A Missing Link version 1
by Haylie Jenee
Summary: Mara entered Domino High thinking she'd make normal friends and do normal things. Boy, was she wrong. Yu-Gi-Oh manga and anime rewritten with OC. eventual KaibaXOC. Has a companion story written by zelos888, in the view of a different OC, who comes in at Battle City 2. T for language.
1. Chapter 1: Beginnings

**Hi there guys! So this story is gonna be a lot of fun. My friend and I are writing what we are calling "companion stories." They have the different characters' points of view, and they do different things, so it's not like our stories are exactly the same. Also, you'll get two different writing styles! The stories will have the same name, but this is version 1, the other is version 2, and it's written by...**

**zelos888: u/2239237/zelos888 **

**HERE'S HER PROLOGUE! s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2 **

**This is the first thing she has uploaded for it, and she won't won't upload for a long time, because we're keeping out stories synced, so she won't upload more until I get to season 2, when her OC comes in. Then we'll be uploading at the same time.**

**Hope you guys enjoy reading it as much as we enjoy writing it!**

* * *

"Crap, I'm so beyond late" I muttered as I ran out the door, slinging my long, white hair into a sloppy ponytail.

Today was my first day at a new school, and I had _planned _to make a good impression. Sleeping through my alarm hadn't really helped with that, and now by the time I got to school, first period would be over. I'd have to head straight to homeroom.

The bell rang right as I ran onto the campus. I slowed to a walk, giving up on being on time, and entered the front office to ask for directions. When I knew where I was going, I headed upstairs and turned left. The first door on my left was my homeroom. I paused outside and heard the teacher say, "Well, we were supposed to have a new student today, but she doesn't seem to be here..." I took a deep breath and opened the door. "Ah, here she is!" The teacher exclaimed. "Hello Mara. Welcome to Domino High School."

The teacher motioned me to the front of the classroom with his hand. "Students, meet your new classmate, Mara Sasaki."

I wasn't really sure what to do as the eyes of almost every student bored into me, so I settled on an awkward wave. When there was no reaction, I put my hand down. I had woken up this morning really excited about going to a new school and meeting new people. Now? Not so much…

The teacher pulled out a seating chart and scanned through it. "Ah, there's an open seat next to Yuugi Muto. Mr. Muto, would you raise your hand?"

I saw a hand shoot up through the sea of faces, towards the back of the room, closest to the windows on my right. The boy had big purple eyes and red and black spiky hair with yellow tendrils in the front. Kind of hard to miss.

I made my way through the room to the open desk at Yuugi's right, trying not to look as nervous as I felt, though when I sat down, he tried to make me feel right at home.

"Hi! I'm Yuugi!" He held his hand out to me.

"I'm Mara, but I'm sure you knew that." I laughed and shook his hand, relieved that someone was being friendly. The teacher started taking attendance while we spoke, but no one else was paying attention to him, so I continued. "This is weird; I've never had a homeroom before!"

He cocked his head to the side. "Really? What school were you at before you came here?"

"Oh, I've been home-schooled since elementary year three."

"So this is the first time you've been in high school?"

"Yup."

"What year are you?"

"I'm a third year."

"Oh wow, so it's your first and last year of high school!"

I frowned at how that sounded. "Huh, I never thought of it like that before..." I didn't let myself dwell on it too long and shook my head to clear it. "Well anyway, what do _you_ usually do in homeroom?"

"Oh, well my friends are all in this homeroom too." He looked away from me, over my head then, called, "Hey guys!" then waved someone over.

I was about to look behind me, but whoever Yuugi called over walked up on my left, drawing my attention there.

Yuugi looked back at me. "Mara, these are my friends Joey, Tristan, and Téa."

They each waved when their names were said, and the girl, Téa, spoke first. "So you're the new girl! We don't see new faces too often."

I smiled and easily started a conversation with them, glad I was able to meet new people so quickly, especially people who seemed to _want _to make new friends. They all seemed really nice and cool, so I kept myself actively engaged in the conversations.

"Hey Mara," Yuugi broke in at one point, "Do you play Duel Monsters?"

I nodded and smiled. "Oh yeah! I love it!"

Yuugi beamed. "Awesome! You gotta bring your deck sometime!"

The bell rang then, and everyone started grabbing his or her stuff.

"Okay, I'll bring it tomorrow."

"Cool! So what class do you have next?"

"Uh..." I pulled my schedule out of my pocket to see, feeling pretty stupid that I hadn't memorized it yet, and Yuugi took it from my hands.

"Oh, you have Japanese 3 next... None of us have that class that period."

"Crap, I have no idea where it is..." I grimaced. _I don't want to get lost already..._

Yuugi looked back at the schedule and said, "Well it's right next to my and Téa's next class, so you can at least walk with us!"

I sighed, relieved. "Thank God..."

Yuugi and I joined Téa, and they showed me off to my next class so I wouldn't get lost.

My schedule continued on to Calculus, then to lunch, then Choir, and lastly History. The class I had missed for first period had been English. Turned out that besides my homeroom, I only got to see everyone at my lunch period. I was alone in all my other classes. I guess that's what I got for being a third-year who made friends with a bunch of first-years...

After History, Téa found me in the halls and suggested that I should go to a study hall class with her. When I cringed, she laughed and told me they don't actually have to study there, they usually just hang out. I complied, happy that I'd have another chance to hang out with everyone, and absolutely ecstatic that Téa had liked me enough to invite me to join them.

I followed her to the study hall classroom, which had also been our homeroom, and found Yuugi and Joey playing Duel Monsters. Yuugi was good, but it didn't take to long for me to learn that Joey wasn't very good at all.

"Wow, you suck at this game." Tristan said after Joey had lost, again.

"Aw, you did fine Joey." Yuugi tried to cheer him up. "I just have better cards." He looked at me. "My grandpa has a game shop, so I get all of my best cards from him."

"You're kidding; you have your own game shop?" I gasped.

"Yup."

Joey, who had been scratching his head in frustration, threw his arms up. "Well what're we waiting for?! Let's go!"

"You just want to go because you got your ass kicked and need better cards." Tristan mocked.

"Well, can we go Yuugi?" I asked, ignoring the two guys now threatening to hurt each other, trying to be more polite than Joey had.

He laughed. "Sure!" His eyes lit up. "Maybe I can even get my grandpa to show us this super rare card he's got!"

We all decided to go and got up, following Yuugi out the door, heading for his grandpa's game shop.

"Grampa, I'm home!" Yuugi called when he opened the door to the shop, which had only been a short fifteen-minute walk from the school.

"And I see you've brought company!" Yuugi's grandpa commented when we all followed Yuugi in. I couldn't help but smile when I realized that Yuugi's grandpa's hair looked just like Yuugi's, but it was all grey.

"Gramps, can you show my friends your awesome, super rare card?"

"Rare card? My special card? Hmm..."

"Please, please!"

"Pretty please?" Joey chimed in.

"Hmm..." Yuugi's grandpa laughed. "How could I refuse? You kids are in for a real treat!" He pulled out a small, old-looking wooden box and set it on the counter. "I don't take this card out too often. Here it is!" He lifted up the lid of the box. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon. So rare, so powerful, I never let it leave my hands."

I gasped involuntarily and leaned in closer.

"Well I guess Mara likes it." Téa commented.

"Wow..." was all I could say. The more I looked at it, the more drawn to it I felt. It seemed so familiar, like I'd seen the card before, but I couldn't put my finger on why. Something inside me stirred, and I wanted so badly to just lift up my hand and touch it, but I forced them to stay at my sides.

Tristan, however, didn't have the same self-control and plucked the card carelessly from Gramps' hands. "Doesn't look all that special to me."

Gramps gasped and snatched it back. "This card is priceless! There are only four of them in the world!"

"Speakin' of priceless, I'm ready to trade!" Joey interjected.

"Not for this card!" Gramps held it away from him.

"Huh? Naw, I don't mean that card. I meant show me some other cards to get me started."

I could help but think, _Oh, that's why he sucked, he's a newbie._

Gramps relaxed and set the Blue-Eyes back in the box, leaving the lid open. My eyes followed it there, locking onto it.

I heard the shop bell ring, but ignored it, even as Gramps said, "Hello, can I help you?"

"If you can't, it certainly wouldn't surprise me." The person said. Everyone turned to see who it was, myself excluded. I continued to ignore him in favor of the card.

Yuugi spoke first. "Seto Kaiba?"

"Kaiba?" Joey repeated.

"Doesn't he have some big fancy company to run?" Tristan asked. "What's he doing down here?"

Their reactions sparked my curiosity enough to tear my gaze away from the card and turn around.

"Not that it's any of your business, but I came to see the card." The boy said. He was wearing our school's uniform, and I realized I had seen him today in both my Calculus and History classes. _So he's a third-year like me..._

Joey stepped forward. "Hey, are you into Duel Monsters too? This is perfect; maybe we could all duel together sometime."

Kaiba walked closer, chuckling. "Me? Duel you? I'd have more of a challenge playing Solitaire."

My eyebrows raised at how easily Kaiba had just insulted Joey. It seemed like it was second nature to him.

"...What?"

"I am the number one ranked duelist in the country, and the favourite to win the Duel Monsters Championship." Kaiba shook his head. "Heh, you would last two minutes in a duel against me."

"Oh, I'm shakin'." Joey held up a fist. "Maybe you'd like to settle this with fists instead of cards."

I jumped a little and leaned forward so he would hear me. "Uh, Joey, I don't think this is a good idea..."

Joey didn't respond to me, he just glared at Kaiba. Yuugi ran in front of him and said, "Whoa, Joey, take it easy!"

Joey looked down at him, annoyed. "Yuugi, Kaiba's askin' for it."

Kaiba ignored him. "Now does this shop have any worth while cards or not?" He practically cut himself off when he caught sight of the Blue-Eyes, then pushed his way through everyone to get to the counter, earning a few protests from each person. "What?! The Blue-Eyes White Dragon? In a dump like this?"

Gramps shut the lid of the box quickly, obviously uncomfortable, and put it away. "Well enough window shopping. Is there anything else I can help you with?"

Kaiba barely paused before throwing his briefcase on the counter. He unlocked the latches and opened it, spinning it around so Gramps could see. Since I was the closest to the counter of everyone, I could see too.

"Listen to me old man. Give me your Blue-Eyes White Dragon card and I'll give you all of these."

"Whoa..." I muttered. The briefcase was full of rare, powerful Duel Monsters cards. _Why would be be so willing to trade all of those cards for this one? I get that it's rare, but what importance does it hold to him?_

"Ah, nice." Gramps grinned. "But no thanks."

We all gasped, but Kaiba was all business. "Fine, if you won't trade, maybe you'll sell it. Just name your price; I can pay anything you ask."

"I'm sure you could." Gramps shook his head. "But this card means more to me than you could ever offer. This card was given to me by a dear friend, and I treasure this card as I do that friend. So parting with it is out of the question."

Kaiba looked shocked, and Yuugi said, "You'd feel the same way if it was a common card, right, Grandpa?"

"Exactly. You see-"

Kaiba slammed the briefcase shut. "Fine. I've heard enough of your nonsense." He turned around and walked off. "Senile old fool."

Once he was gone and the door had shut, there was a moment of silence until I laughed, trying to lighten the mood. Everyone looked at me, puzzled. "I thought he was going to explode before he made it out the door!"

My joke had the intended effect and everyone lightened up enough for Joey to continue trading with Gramps, everyone practically forgetting that Kaiba had ever been there. Not completely, of course, the tension in the atmosphere hung around for a while long still.

A half an hour later, I decided to go home. I didn't want my parents to be worried. "Well, I guess I'll see you guys at school tomorrow." I said and grabbed my bag. "And I'll be sure to bring my deck!" I told Yuugi.

"Okay!" He replied. "Bye Mara!" Everyone bid me farewell, and I waved on my way out the door.

Even as I walked home, the image of the Blue-Eyes White Dragon was stuck in my head, and I couldn't stop trying to figure out where I had seen it before. It wasn't until I was stepping up to my front door that it hit me.

I whipped the door open and took an immediate left down the stairs to my room.

"Mara, is that you?" I heard my father call.

I froze in the middle of the stairs and yelled, "Yeah!"

"Well I want to hear about your first day!" I heard him chuckle.

"Gimme a sec!" I ran the rest of the way down the stairs, dumping my bag at their base, and turned right, opening the second door on the right, my closet. My room wasn't just downstairs; it was the downstairs.

I stood on my tiptoes and reached to the top shelf, grabbing a small cardboard box, then backed up five steps to flop on my bed.

Inside the box were two things. First, a little battered sketchbook, and second, a little stuffed animal. I pulled the latter out first and studied it, then set it down and grabbed and opened the sketchbook.

"Oh..." I whispered. "The Blue-Eyes White Dragon... is the dragon from all my dreams..."

"Mara!" My mom's sing-songy voice floated down the stairs.

"Hm..." I studied the drawing one moment longer, the stood up. "Coming!"

After I went through the overview of my day with my mom and dad, I went back to my room, ignoring the items on my bed until I'd changed into more comfortable clothes; black swears and a dark blue tank top.

I sat back on my bed cross-legged, and the soft white dragon plushie found its way into my hands. I started stroking it's head as I wondered why this dragon had made an appearance in my life today.

* * *

**Well there ya go, chapter one! **

**I know he's a total douche in this chapter, but I still love Kaiba so much. XD  
**

**zelos888's prologue: s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2  
**


	2. Chapter 2: Time to Duel?

"I hope your grandpa doesn't mind us coming over two days in a row, Yuugi..." I looked at him worriedly as we walked to his game shop after school.

"Yeah, well I hope he has some cool cards for me!" Joey cheered.

Yuugi laughed. "Me too!" He looked at me then. "And don't worry Mara, he won't care!"

We entered the shop and Joey called out, "'Kay, Gramps, I'm back to get more cards!" No response. "Gramps, hey Gramps!"

Yuugi tried next. "Grampa, I'm home!"

There was still no reply, and he was nowhere to be seen.

The emptiness of the store didn't feel right, and a chill ran up my spine, making me shiver. "Where could he be?" I asked Yuugi, hoping for an answer that told me this was normal.

But he shook his head. "I don't know..."

Téa said, "Maybe he... went out?"

"Maybe, but why would he leave the door unlocked?" Joey pointed out.

The phone rang, and Yuugi walked over and picked it up. "Hello, Game Shop... Kaiba?"

Téa and I exchanged a worried glance. _Why is Kaiba calling the Game Shop?_

"What have you done, Kaiba?" Yuugi yelled into the phone, then hung it up, frustrated. Kaiba must have hung up on him. "C'mon guys, we gotta get to the KaibaCorp. building! My grandpa's there!"

When we got to the tower, we ran straight to the elevator and Yuugi hit a button to go up. The whole ride up felt agonizingly slow, and I tapped my foot the whole time impatiently. Yuugi hadn't filled us in on the situation well, and there were all kinds of horrible scenarios playing out in my head, only making me worry even more.

When the doors finally opened, the feeling of relief was short lived. Yuugi's grandpa was sprawled on the floor in the middle of the room in front of us.

"Oh my god..." I breathed, my heart starting to pound.

Yuugi reacted instantly, running out of the elevator and kneeling next to his incapacitated grandpa. "Grampa! Are you okay?"

The rest of us joined Yuugi as Gramps lifted his head and said, "Yuugi, I failed. I wanted to teach that kid Kaiba about the Heart of the Cards, but I lost..."

Kaiba entered from a doorway directly across from the elevator. "How's the old man feeling, hm?" He taunted.

"Kaiba, you sleaze!" Joey yelled. "What've you done to him?!"

"We had a little duel, that's all, with each of us putting up our most valuable card as the prize." Kaiba smirked. "But I guess playing against a champion like myself was just too much stimulation for the old fool."

"You should be ashamed of yourself!" Téa shouted.

"It was fair. And look at the sweet prize I won." Kaiba held up the Blue-Eyes White Dragon card, then ripped it in half.

_Ouch... _I put a hand up to my stomach. _That was weird..._

"My Blue-Eyes! M-my treasure!" Gramps gasped.

"How could you do such a thing?!" Yuugi yelled.

"Yuugi, here," Gramps held up his deck to him. "Take this."

"Huh?"

"I built this deck, put my soul into these cards, and I've taught you everything I know. Take them and teach Kaiba respect for the Heart of the Cards."

"But Grampa, you need help! I've got to take you to a doctor!"

"Sounds like an excuse." Kaiba chimed in. "Your friends can take him to the doctor while you and I duel." He chuckled. "Unless you're afraid."

"Take him, Yuugi!" Joey told him, and Yugi turn around to look at him. "We can take care of your grandpa while you take care of Kaiba. Teach that rich spoiled brat what real dueling is all about!"

Yuugi looked down. "I don't know..."

"Trust me you're the best player I've ever seen! You can do this!"

Yuugi nodded the turned back to his grandpa. "Okay Grampa, I'll do it."

"I know you will my boy." Gramps gave Yuugi the deck.

Téa pulled out a marker and said, "Everyone, put your hands together, and I'll mark us with a special sign."

I stood back as Téa, Joey, Yuugi, and Tristan stood in a circle with their arms held out so their hands were together. Téa drew something on their hands, and I started fiddling with my coat awkwardly.

Joey held his hand up and spoke first. "What gives, Téa?"

She smiled. "It's so when Yuugi's dueling, he'll know we're right here with him."

I couldn't help but roll my eyes. _Okay, this is a little ridiculous..._

After a few more sappy words, Yuugi left, and the rest of us took Gramps down stairs while Téa called for an ambulance. When it arrived and Gramps was loaded in, Téa turned to Joey. "We can take Yugi's grandpa to the hospital, why don't you get back in there and cheer Yuugi on?"

"Okay, take good care of him." Joey replied.

He turned to leave and I said, "Wait, I'm coming too!" I followed him back inside, and we headed up to the Arena, where Yuugi and Kaiba would be dueling.

"Draw your last pathetic card so I can end this." Kaiba sneered.

"My grandpa's deck has no pathetic cards." Yuugi smirked. "But it does contain... The unstoppable Exodia."

My eyes shot wide. "What?!" _I've never even seen _one _of the Exodia pieces. Yuugi has all five?!_

"Impossible!" Kaiba gasped.

"I've assembled all five special cards, all five pieces of the puzzle."

"Exodia... It's not possible!" Kaiba took a step back. "No one's ever been able to call him!"

"Exodia, OBLITERATE!" Yuugi shouted.

I shielded my eyes from the light with my arm, and when I looked back at the field, the Blue-Eyes were gone, and Kaiba's Life Points hit zero. My eyes were locked wide, unable to believe how this had ended. _I thought he was beat for sure..._

Joey cheered, and I just shook my head in amazement. Yuugi joined us in the sidelines, where Joey and I congratulated him, then we left to go check on his grandpa.

* * *

**I know the ending is super rushed. I couldn't find a good way to cut out the whole MIIIND CRUUUUUUSH thing but not cut off at Joey awkwardly cheering! However, if someone reviews and gives me some good ideas on how to end this chap, I can make it better *hint hint***

**Does anyone else think that when Kaiba says, "Your friends can take him to the doctor while you and I duel," he sounds seductive? I thought so...  
**

**zelos888's prologue: s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2  
**


	3. Chapter 3: Soul Taker

**I'm gonna be honest with you guys. I personally thing Duelist Kingdom is the most boring season. And when something is boring to write, it's goring to read. So here's my recommendation. It won't hurt my feelings if you guys skim a lot of these chapters. The important ones are 5 (though only certain parts) and 7. 1 and 2 as well, but you should've already read those XD I don't want you guys to get bored. I REALLY don't. It's just that Mara doesn't get to do much in Duelist Kingdom. Battle City is going to be SO MUCH FUN and _way_ more interesting. I know a good writer should be able to write anything and make it sound good and interesting, but my problem is when it comes to character development, I need Season 1. When it comes to what's interesting, it's all about Season 2 and on. It's ONLY Duelist Kingdom that's boring. Even Legendary Heroes is gonna be fun! EVERYTHING ELSE WILL BE FUN. I'm so sorry if you guys are annoyed by this. I want Duelist Kingdom to be fun, but it's _ALL. DUELS._ I DON'T WANT TO WRITE _ALL. DUELS._ In fact, I don't really want to write duels at all unless they have some major moments that I need. Duelist Kingdom has none of those. So I'm sorry, but please, skim this stuff, read chapter 7, and we'll get into fun stuff RIGHT AFTER THAT. (Chapter 7 is the end of Duelist Kingdom) But Mara's a really interesting character, and we really get to see more from her after Duelist Kingdom. ESPECIALLY once Battle City starts. Okay. I've wasted enough time. Onward! **

* * *

It seemed weird going to school the next day as if nothing had happened at all. We all dueled in homeroom; I beat Téa and Joey each a few times. I dueled against Yuugi's old and new decks each a couple times, and I could beat his old one everytime, but the one his grandpa had given him was harder. I only beat it once out of five duels, and even then, I _barely _beat it the once.

Nevertheless, yesterday's events stayed in my thoughts the whole time. It had been so bizarre, and I noticed that Kaiba hadn't shown in either of the classes that I'd seen him in before. It might have just been coincidence, but I seriously doubted it.

By the end of the day, I realized that no one felt the same way I did. They didn't mention anything about it through homeroom, lunch, or study hall.

Yuugi invited us all to his house to watch a Duel Monsters tournament that was going to be on TV, since his grandpa was out of the hospital now, and while we hung out, everyone seemed very relaxed. I decided it was just me being a spaz. Maybe their lives were naturally more exciting than mine, so this stuff hadn't affected them as much. Either that or they were all better at blocking it out than I was.

We were sitting in his living room when the tournament we were watching ended, and Yuugi's grandpa brought him a package.

"What is it, Gramps?" Yuugi asked as he took it from him.

"I don't know, it just came in the mail." He shrugged, but stood by to wait for him to open it.

"It's from Industrial Illusions!"

"The company that makes Duel Monsters?" I clarified.

"Why in the heck would they be sending a package to you?" Joey questioned.

"I have no idea." Yuugi shook his head. "Is it possible they heard I beat the world champion?"

"Well open it!" I exclaimed, and we all crowded around him to watch.

"It's some sort of glove..." Téa commented. The glove was fingerless and maroon-ish. Where it would sit on the wrist was a big metal band with star-shaped indentations in it.

"And little metal stars," Joey added. They looked like they'd fit in the indentations in the glove.

I blinked, trying to figure out what it all was. "Anyone… know what this stuff is?" Everyone shook they're heads, so I said, "Um… Maybe check out the tape?"

Yuugi nodded, picked up the tape, and took it over to the VCR to play it.

The screen went fuzzy for a moment as we all sat down to watch it. A man with long silver hair appeared, and he spoke. "Greetings young Yuugi, I am Maximillion Pegasus."

We all looked at each other. We'd just seen him on TV after the winner of the Duel Monsters tournament had been declared. _He'd personally given the winner the trophy... Why would someone this high in status being contacting a random high school student? This was all too weird._

"The famous Maximillion Pegasus sends regards to my Yuugi?" Gramps asked.

"I have heard some terribly interesting news about you, Yuugi." Pegasus continued. "Your impressive defeat of Seto Kaiba intrigued me so much that I've decided to investigate your amazing dueling skills personally. Right here, right now, we shall hold a special duel. We'll play with a strict limit of fifteen minutes, and when time's up, the player with the highest Life Points will be the winner. Ready?"

Yuugi jumped. "Whu-?"

"He wants you to duel a video tape?!" I sputtered. _That makes absolutely _no _sense at all..._

"That's crazy!" Tristan said.

A chuckle came from the TV, and we all directed our attention back to it.

"No," Pegasus smirked, "It's magic!"

"Yuugi! Yuugi, what's wrong?!" Téa got up and hurried over to a frantic Yuugi yelling at the TV.

"Gramps is gone!" He told her.

I involuntarily looked over to where I'd last seen Gramps, standing by the couch, but didn't see him anymore.

"What?!"

"Pegasus took his soul..."

This stopped us all short, and I blinked, confused. "Is... is that even possible?"

There was a short pause as everyone wondered the same thing I'd spoken. Tristan got up and walked over to where Gramps had been standing, and that's when I realized he hadn't just disappeared, but he was on the floor.

Tristan tried to shake him awake, but there was no kind of reaction at all.

A shiver ran up my spine and I muttered, "Holy shit..."

"Okay, I'm officially freaked..." Joey said.

"What do we do?" Téa looked like she was on the verge of a freak out.

I managed to keep my tone reasonably calm, though I didn't feel it, as I said, "Well we can't just keep him here. We gotta take him to the hospital."

Joey looked at me. "Yeah? And what are we gonna tell 'em?"

"I... I don't know! We can just tell them that he just collapsed or something... But it doesn't matter what we say, I just know that we can't take good enough care of him on our own!"

Yuugi nodded, still shaken. "Mara's right."

Téa took out her cell phone and called for an ambulance while Joey and Tristan got Gramps off the floor and put him on the couch.

"So, um, Yuugi..." I started. "How did... this... even happen? I mean, how I remember it is that Pegasus said something about magic... then you were yelling at the screen..."

Everyone stepped closer so they could hear.

Yuugi shook his head slowly. "Well you guys missed a lot. Pegasus took us somewhere that he called the Shadow Realm."

"...Shadow Realm?"

"Yeah, and you guys were all frozen. Like he'd said on the tape, we dueled, but it was different. The monsters were coming out of the cards like holograms, only they seemed so _real._ I called the last attack, and I would've won if it had gone through, but the time ended an instant too early, so Pegasus took Grampa's soul..."

We all stood frozen. This didn't make sense. "He took your grandfather's soul because you... lost?" Téa asked.

"That's so screwed up..." I whispered.

"So now what do we do?" Tristan chimed in.

"... We try to get him back." Yuugi said.

"But... how?" I murmured.

"I don't know..."

When the paramedics arrived and took Gramps, Yuugi went with them and told the rest of us that we should all go home. We couldn't help but hang around a little while longer though, we were all too stunned to do much of anything.

Eventually, I was able to clear my head enough for emotion to get its way through, so I said my quick good-byes and headed on my way, holding in my tears just long enough for me to turn around and start walking so no one else saw them.

I was scared. Really scared. Since when could stuff like this happen? _How _could stuff like this happen? I didn't know it was possible... Moreover, why did Pegasus take Gramps' soul just because Yuugi lost? What did he have to gain from it? And who's to say that Pegasus wouldn't go for us, Yuugi's friends, next? A chill ran through me at the last question. What if we couldn't find a way to get Gramps back? What if Pegasus kept his soul forever...?

When I got home, my parents were asleep, allowing me to slip downstairs without any questions. If they had been awake, there would've been no explanation for why I was crying. I couldn't tell them any of this. It was so unbelievable, I wasn't even sure if _I _completely understood it, and I'd been right there when it all happened.

I didn't even bother turning on my light, I just dropped my bag on the floor and shuffled over to my bed, hoping this nightmare wouldn't follow me into my sleep.

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**Gotta give a HUGE shout out to my beta reader (who wants their identity to remain secret XD). There's so much stuff that I wouldn't notice (Or DON'T NOTICE) without her help. SO THANKS! :D**

**zelos888's story: s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2  
**


	4. Chapter 4: BOOOOAT RIIIDE

Two days later, everyone was hanging out in study hall after school, though the atmosphere was more somber than usual. Yuugi told us about an envelope he'd gotten in the mail the afternoon before. It had contained some Duel Monster-like cards that explained why he had received them.

"A tournament at Duelist Kingdom?" Téa questioned as she read off a card, then asked, "Isn't that an island?"

"So... that's where Pegasus is keeping your grandfather's soul?" I asked.

"Maybe..." Yuugi replied. "The only way to know for sure is to become a contestant. The boat leaves in two days."

"But you can't go!" Téa protested. "It could be dangerous..."

"Yeah, and without invitations, we can't even go with you." Joey added.

There was a short pause as everyone mulled this over.

I closed my eyes. "Hm... I don't like this..."

"Yeah, this is bad..." Téa agreed.

"Hey Yuugi, check this out!" Tristan said, his happy tone making me curious enough to look at him. He was holding two of the invite cards. "According to this, the tournament winner takes the grand prize of 3 million dollars!"

"Wow..." I muttered. "Didn't know tournaments could pay off like that… But that's not really a concern right now."

Yuugi looked surprised. "So what Tristan? Who cares about money at a time like this?" He spoke my thoughts.

Joey's eyes lit up and he snatched the card from Tristan's hands. "Gimme that!" He looked at it closer. "Wow, three million..."

"...Guess Joey does..."

The rest of the day went by in a blur; I was just too distracted to focus on anything. I think I failed a quiz in Japanese, but I don't even think I wrote anything down. It might've been just a worksheet for all I know.

I was trying to remember if I'd even gone to Choir today when the house phone rang. Since I was in the kitchen making dinner, I was right next to the phone, so I shouted, "I'll get it!" to the front room, then picked up the phone on the counter to my left.

"Hello?"

"Mara?"

"Mmhmm. Who is this?"

"It's Téa!"

"How did yo-" _Oh yeah, I gave her my home and cell numbers yesterday..._

"You gave me your phone numbers, remember?"

"Yeah, yeah, sorry, my brain is kinda all over the place today. What's up?"

"Well... I've been thinking... you remember that whole Duelist Kingdom thing?"

_How could I forget?_ "Yes, what about it?"

"I don't like the idea of Yuugi going on his own. We _have _to find a way to go with him!"

"W-what?! Téa, we don't have invitations! How the hell are we going to get on the ship?"

"Well they're gonna have to load stuff, like cargo, onto the ship, right? We'll just sneak on with the cargo!"

I sighed. _Oh boy, this is obviously not thought out..._ "Well what if we get caught?"

"We can't... we won't! If we get caught, Yuugi will be all alone."

_Oh, so since Yuugi needs us, there's no possibility of being caught, right? _"Téa..."

I got where she was coming from. I really did. She just wanted to help her friend out, but honestly, being caught was a _very _real possibility. I had to tell her this was a bad idea, and that I was out.

I took a deep breath. "...Okay, I'll do it." _Goddammit..._

Téa started cheering, and I added, "BUT, I'm in _only _if we're really methodical and careful about this. I'd rather not have a criminal record before I'm out of high school..."

"Of course, of course, thank you Mara! We won't get caught, I promise."

_We'd better not..._

Why I decided to stick my neck out like this to go to a Duel Monsters tournament was beyond me.

_Oh, Yuugi needs our help,_ Tea said. _Trust me, it's a great idea, it'll be easy to sneak in_. Tristan said.

Yeah, I'll believe that as we're watching Joey's own plan being foiled and him being dragged away by security. Lovely.

"Guys, this is a _reeeeeally_ bad idea." I whispered as we watched Yuugi come to Joey's rescue, and I started to sweat at the idea of _us_ being caught.

But both Téa and Tristan ignored me, and Tristan said, "Well, they're distracted. Let's go." He walked to the right of the boxes we were hiding behind to a huge metal shipping container. "C'mon, we can hide in here!"

I sighed, but didn't lag behind as Téa and I joined him and hid in the back behind all the boxes inside.

Eventually someone came around and closed the door. I was suddenly terrified. _What if the guy just locked us in here? What if we're stuck in here for the whole trip? What if we can't get out before they start unloading the stuff?_

I felt when the box was lifted into the air, and when it settled on the ship. It was all I could do to not jump up and run for the door to make sure it wasn't locked and that we weren't trapped.

After about an hour, we felt the ship start to move forward, so Tristan got up and _very _carefully crack open the door to see. I almost passed out with relief when I realized that meant we weren't completely trapped in there.

"Is there anyone there?" I whispered to Tristan.

"No."

"Then let's get out of this thing!" I heard the panic slipping into my voice.

Téa and I got up and followed Tristan as he led us to a courner near the main door to go inside the ship, where we sat down behind a lifeboat.

"Hey guys, I think I see Yuugi and Joey." I said, poking my head around the courner. Téa and Tristan joined me and I pointed out where they are.

Eventually we settled back into our little courner and waited until everyone went inside to speak about an hour later. When they did though, Téa stood up.

"Téa!" I hissed. "You're gonna get us caught!"

Tristan nodded panickedly. "Yeah, stay down or we're busted!"

She turned to us. "It's freezing out here, I can't sit still!"

I rolled my eyes and took off my black zip-up hoodie, leaving me with a black half sleeve shirt, and handed it to her. "Here. Now sit down and shh!"

She took it and hesitated. "Won't you be cold?"

I shrugged. "Nah. I'm wearing jeans, you're wearing a skirt."

She nodded and was pulling the sleeves on when we heard the door open.

"Get down!" I hissed at Téa. She complied and hid behind the lifeboat, but peaked out to see who it was.

"Hey, isn't that Bakura?" Téa whispered.

"Who?" I peaked around the courner.

"You mean Bakura from school?" Tristan asked.

_Oh yeah! _I thought. _I've seen him in study hall and homeroom. Well now I know his name._

"What do you think he's doing here?" Téa inquired.

"Uhh... I guess he's in the tournament." Tristan answered.

"Well that's really random..." _Why wouldn't he have mentioned this to everyone in school? I mean everyone liked Duel Monsters, you think he would've wanted to tell about the tournament..._

Bakura went back inside after a few minutes, and we fell silent again. The almost immeasurable rocking motion of the ship was calming, and I was had almost fallen asleep when we heard some commotion on the second floor open deck.

"Guys, did you hear that?" I murmured.

"What?" Tristan asked.

Téa shushed him, and we all listened.

Suddenly, we heard someone yell, "JOEY! Swim back to the ship!"

"That sounds like Yuugi!" Téa gasped.

"_Swim back to the ship_?!" I quoted.

We all jumped up and ran to the railing to see Joey and Yuugi in the water, Yuugi swimming towards Joey.

"The hell?" I gasped.

Tristan ran back to the lifeboat where there had been a roll up ladder next to a life preserver while Téa and I got Yuugi and Joey's attention. When he found it, Tristan threw the ladder to me and I hung it over the rail.

"Grab on, you guys!" I yelled to them, and they swam back and grabbed it. When they reached the top, we helped them get over the rail and back onto the deck.

"That was close..." Yuugi puffed when he and Joey were both safely back onboard. "I'm glad you guys showed up. Really glad."

"Jesus, what were you guys doing?" I fretted. "That's not traditional ship conduct, jumping over the side."

"Well, uh..."

"I'm sorry, Yuugi." Joey interrupted.

"Huh?"

"I failed. I only found two of your cards..."

I was about to yell at him for such a stupid reason until Joey handed them to Yuugi, and I saw they were the Exodia cards that Gramps had given him.

"It's okay, Joey!"

"It's not okay!" Joey's voice rose a little bit. "It's always this way with me. I'm never able to help anybody." Then his voice dropped off, and he muttered, "Not even my own sister..."

This stopped everyone short, which surprised me. Why didn't everyone else know this?

"Really? You have a sister, Joey?" Téa asked.

He nodded. "Her name is Serenity. Our parents divorced years ago, when we were kids. She lives far away, with my mother. My sister's had really bad eyes since she was born, and eventually she'll go blind..."

"I'm sorry..." Yuugi said.

"Thanks Yuug. She sent me a messege. The doctors told her that the time has come. Soon her eyes will be impossible to repair, even with surgery. But there are specialists who can perform an operation now, before it's too late. They could save her eyesight! But... there's no way I could pay for the operation... I have to win, for her! Winning in the Duelist Kingdom and getting the prize money is the only way I can help Serenity..."

_So that's why he was so interested in the card that described the three million dollar cash prize..._ I thought. _He wanted to help his sister..._

I noticed the sky starting to grow lighter, and we all walked to the front of the ship to see.

"Well Joey," Yuugi started. "We'll both do our best. You for your sister, and me for my grandpa."

Joey nodded, and Tristan exclaimed, "Look, the island!" And he was right; the island was just starting to come into view.

"That's Duelist Kingdom." Yuugi told us.

I leaned over the rail a little bit. "Wow, it's beautiful..."

As the island grew and got closer little by little, I began to grow more anxious. So much had happened in the last few days, and I'd hadn't really considered the stakes we were at. This was Yuugi's first tournament, and we didn't know what level the other duelists were at. Now that Yuugi had lost Exodia, his best monster, his deck was seriously hindered from when he'd dueled Kaiba.

I seriously started to doubt that he was ever going to get ten Star Chips.

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**My beta reader said she didn't ****particularly like this chapter and wanted me to change a lot, but I disagreed and left a lot the same. (Hopefully you guys still like it!) Fun chapter coming up, not. it's boring (JK). BTW, zelos888 (person who writes other version of this whole fun thing) SAYS HIIIIIIIII!**

**ALSO, the name of this chapter MUST be said (ahem sang) in an epic voice. Thank you.**


	5. Chapter 5: It's All A Blur

**Hey guys! Sorry this chap took so long. But... well... It's REALLY long, like 11,500 words (Actually, now it's almost 13,000)! :O So heres the deal. This chapter, you can afford to skim through it. You really need to hear Mara's input into stuff, but it's honestly a pretty slow chapter. The main flashbacks that are important here are when Kaiba duels Joey, and when Kaiba duels Yuugi. Oh, yeah, I used this chapter as a kinda _LUDICROUS SPEED THROUGH DUELIST KINGDOM... GOOO! _It would've been very bland if I'd written out the whole thing. There was too much duel and not enough stuff for Mara to really be engaged in. I hope you guys are okay with this. And you should be, just because it would've been VERY boring otherwise. Read as you will; every word, skimming, somewhere in between, whatever! And please review! I like to know if people are reading or not. As far as I know, there's one anon out there (THANK YOU ANON! :D), and they reviewed, but it doesn't show up apparently. (You learn something new everyday!) But yes, please reveiw, and lastly... Thank you to my beta reader who has been unbelievably patient with this story (mostly this chap), and helped me work out some ugly little writing knots!**

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I still couldn't believe Yuugi won ten Star Chips.

Even as we were actually walking into Pegasus' castle, I was still trying to get a grip on everything that had happened in these last two days. Not only had Yuugi earned his ten Star Chips, but even Joey managed to make it in. The events were so jam-packed into my head, I needed to try and sort them out.

Almost immediately after we'd arrived, Yuugi had kicked Weevil Underwood's ass, the kid that threw his Exodia cards off the ship. Then, less than an hour later, Joey beat Mai Valentine, another duelist they had met on the ship. Mako Tsunami, the world's top ocean deck duelist, had been next to challenge Yuugi, who had won, of course. Somehow, that led to us finding some kid who was being dragged off the island. He told us his Star Chips and cards had been stolen, so we had promised the kid we would get them back in the half-hour time limit we were given.

When we returned to the Arena where it had happened, the thief had leapt out of the bushes and challenged Yuugi to a duel. Turned out, it was Kaiba's little brother, Mokuba. Apparently, Kaiba had disappeared, and when he left, Pegasus had moved in to take over KaibaCorp. The top executives there had told Pegasus that if he could defeat Yuugi, then they would give him control of the company. However, there was some kind of policy that prevented KaibaCorp from being controlled by anyone but a Kaiba heir, and that's why Mokuba was there. Pegasus had taken him. Mokuba had decided that if he could eliminate Yuugi from the tournament before he could challenge Pegasus, then there would be no chance of Pegasus gaining control of KaibaCorp. Yuugi somehow convinced Mokuba to help us defeat Pegasus instead, and return the Star Chips to the kid he'd stolen them from. However, when we returned to the dock where the little boat was supposed to be, it had already left. The guy who was responsible for shipping them off early (one of Pegasus' minions named Kemo) grabbed Mokuba, saying he was a guest of Pegasus, or rather a prisoner. Yuugi challenged him to a duel, saying if he won, Mokuba had to be set free. We returned to the Arena where we'd agreed to meet, and the challenger was someone completely different than we'd been expecting. Kemo claimed it was Kaiba's ghost, that he had died earlier that day by falling to his death. Yuugi had to duel this "ghost" if we wanted Mokuba to be freed, so he agreed to it. This "Kaiba" somehow had the real Kaiba's deck, and was using it to throw everyone off. At one point, "Kaiba" was about to wipe out Yuugi's Life Points with a combo of Blue-Eyes and Stop Defense, but the dragon glitched. Turned out, the real Kaiba had inserted a virus into the hologram from a different location, freeing Yuugi to take the dragon down. In the end, Yuugi revealed his opponent not to be Kaiba's ghost, but some evil part of him that Yuugi had destroyed in their last duel. Yuugi went on to win the match, but Kemo had run off with Mokuba when we weren't looking. After searching for an hour and not finding him, we decided all we could do was try to get into the castle to free both him and Gramps.

Right after that, Joey dueled Rex Raptor, the first runner-up in the Regional Championship, and somehow won.

That night, Mai had shown up and given us food, eating dinner with us. She went off for a walk after a tense moment of her telling us she would stomp any duelist in her way. We had finished our dinners in silence, and after a while, we had decided to go see where Mai had gone. But instead, we got an unexpected visitor...

_xxx_

_Joey yawns. "Man, I'm fading fast here."_

_ That makes me yawn too, and I nod in agreement._

_ "Don't you think we oughta check on Mai?" Téa suggests._

_ "Good idea." Yuugi nods._

_ "She has been gone a while." Tristan muttered._

_ Suddenly, the bushes behind Téa rustle deliberately, making her gasp, whipping around to face them. We all jump up and turn to face the bushes, read for some kind of threat. Instead, out walks Ryou Bakura from school._

_ "It's Bakura?" Yuugi sounds as surprised, but after Téa claiming to see him twice now, I just wonder why he hadn't shown up until now._

_ "What are you doin' way out here, Bakura?" Joey asks._

_ "Same as you guys, I guess," He replies in his soft British accent._

_ We invite him over to settle around the campfire again, and he accepts. Joey gets all into looking at his cards in his deck while the rest of us talk. Eventually Tristan looks over at him and says, "Joey, you've been staring at that card for like an hour. What's up?"_

_ "I'll tell ya, just don't laugh. Sometimes, when I'm in a duel, I'll pretend that it's me out there on the field swappin' blows with whatever card my opponent has out." He leans back and scratches his head awkwardly, laughing. "Isn't that dumb?"_

_ "Well, if you were," Bakura starts, "which card would you want to be?"_

_ "Uhh... This one!" He holds it up. "The Flame Swordsman kicks everybody's butt!"_

_ "Not my guy!" Tristan piped up. "The Cyber Commander!"_

_ "Except that the Flame Swordsman would kick the Cyber Commander's butt!" I point out._

_ Tristan glares at me and Téa laughs. "You guys are hilarious!"_

_ "I think everybody has a card they can identify with." Yuugi tells her. "You should see if you can find one."_

_ "Okay..." She looks through some cards and pulls one out. "This one! The Magician of Faith!"_

_ "What? You gotta be kiddin' me!" Tristan teases._

_ "That card is so weak!" Joey adds._

_ "Oh c'mon guys!" I scold jokingly. "That card has an awesome effect!"_

_ "How about you Mara?" Yuugi looks at me._

_ I blink, surprised. "Oh, me? Hmmm..." I take my cards out of my jacket and pull out a card. "This one, Dark Magician Girl!"_

_ He is about to respond, but Bakura speaks up first. "Tell me which one you identify with, Yuugi!"_

_ He smiles. "Oh that's easy. Dark Magician, hands down."_

_ "Maybe I'm just out of the loop..." Téa starts, "But don't you think it's a little silly to be comparing ourselves to playing cards?"_

_ "Maybe a little, but it's like Grampa says. It's not about the playing cards; it's about putting a little bit of your heart into anything you care about." Then Yuugi says, "So which card do you care about most, Bakura?"_

_ "This one is my favorite." He holds up a magic card. "The Change of Heart card."_

_ "What does that one do?" Yuugi asks._

_ "Well if you want to see how it works, we could have a duel right now. Not for Star Chips, just for fun!"_

_ Yuugi smiles. "Yeah! Sounds good to me."_

_ I sigh contentedly. "It'll be nice to see a duel like the ones back home."_

_ "Why don't you guys each put your favorite cards into Yuugi's deck? That way it'll be like we're all playing!" Bakura suggests._

_ "Great idea, Bakura!" Yuugi says. "But I should warn you, with this all-star team of cards, we'll be tough to beat!"_

_ Téa, Joey, Tristan, and I all hand our cards to Yuugi and he shuffles them in. A huge stump near by is flat on the top, so Yuugi and Bakura pull big rocks up to it to use as a table. The rest of us kneel behind Yuugi to watch._

_ Alright!" Yuugi announces, "I'm all shuffled."_

_ "Don't you worry about a thing Bakura; we'll go easy on you!" Joey laughs._

_ "Thanks!" Bakura smiles at him. "Now before we get started, there's a little thing I'd like to share with you all."_

_ What is it?" Joey asks._

_ "You'll see." Bakura closes his eyes and holds his hands up like he was making a frame to his chest. Out of nowhere, a big pendant appears around his neck. The symbol in the middle looks like Yuugi's Millennium Puzzle._

_ "What is that?" I gasp._

_ "It can't be!" Yuugi exclaims. "A Millennium Item!"_

_ "Yes," Bakura says, his voice suddenly raspier, "And the magic of my Millennium Ring will take us to the Shadow Realm."_

_ Black and purple clouds appear all around us, shutting off the outside world._

_ "Why are you doing this Bakura?!" Yuugi gasps._

_ "You've something I want, Yuugi. And I aim to take it."_

_ A small light shines from the pendant, and then it flashes. _

_ It feels like I'm being ripped from my body, as if I'm not even part of it anymore. The light vanishes and I feel like I'm dropped into a tornado, leaving my body behind._

_ Everything goes dark. . . ._

_ When I next open my eyes, all I can see is light, sparkling light. I'm surrounded by the sparkles, and when they start to fall, they reveal the world behind them._

_ I see Yuugi, Joey, Tristan, and Téa, but they are dressed weird. Yuugi is the Dark Magician, Joey is the Flame Swordsman, Tristan is the Cyber Commander, and Téa is the Magician of Faith. Everyone is dressed as their favorite card._

_ "Uh, guys? What's going on?" I raise an eyebrow, confused._

_ The guys all blush and whip their heads away from me, refusing to look back. Téa just starts laughing. This, of course, confuses me even more, but when I look down, I realize I'm dressed as the Dark Magician Girl._

_ "Oh, dammit." I mutter, blushing. It feels like I'm wearing nothing but underclothes and boots. Except, it's all bulky and pink and blue. "This is one stupid dream..."_

_ Téa walks closer and says, "This isn't a dream, Mara."_

_ "What? That's not possible. I don't remember owning a Dark Magician Girl costume, let alone dressing up in one..."_

_ Téa just shakes her head. "Don't you remember? We were all naming our favorite cards, and Bakura and Yuugi decided to duel... Then Bakura brought us here, the Shadow Realm."_

_ "I think I remember that..." I look at my surroundings as the information sinks in. "Um.. well..."_

_ "Don't think about it too much."_

_ I nod, "Okay, I'll tell myself this is a dream... So, then... Where's-" I look around for Bakura, and instead of finding a normal sized Bakura, on the opposite side of the field there is a giant Bakura sitting at that end of the tree stump. I almost fall backwards. "Holy shit! What's-?!" I look behind me, and there is a giant Yuugi, watching us. "...Okay. Why is there a giant Bakura, and why are there two Yuugi's? Oh, and what's going on?!" Giant Yuugi speaks this time. "When Bakura brought us all to the Shadow Realm, your souls were put into your favorite cards."_

_ "Right now," Téa adds, "Big Yuugi and Bakura are dueling with our cards."_

_ "Okay, but why are there two Yuugi's?!"_

_ Normal Yuugi, well, as normal as he could be dressed up as the Dark Magician, has gathered his dignity enough to face me and speak. "It's a little hard to explain... But, it has something to do with my Millennium Puzzle. Whenever I duel, it feels like there's a powerful presence guiding me, and helping me."_

_ I blink. "So you're cheating?"_

_ His eyes shoot wide. "No! It's not like that at all! It seems like there another presence that dwells within my Millennium Puzzle."_

_ "So... that's who Big Yuugi is?"_

_ "Yeah."_

_ I face-palm. "My head hurts." Then I look back up at Big Yuugi. "So, what now?"_

_ He frowns. "Well, since I just played your card, you have to attack this turn... but..."_

_ I turn to face the other side of the field, and there is a facedown monster. "Uh, any idea what it is...?"_

_ "There have been two Morphing Jars and an Electric Lizard so far..."_

_ I flinch upon hearing Electric Lizard. "I assume that wouldn't feel good to attack."_

_ Little Yuugi shakes his head. "No, it doesn't."_

_ I take a deep breath and walk forward, until I reach the front end of the Monster Card zone. "Here goes nothing... Dark Magic Attack!"_

_ The world turns negative for a second, and the card I attacked flips up to reveal a Morphing Jar. I immediately look back at Big Yuugi. "Is that really bad?!"_

_ He smiles and shakes his head. "Now that everyone is on the field, it doesn't really matter."_

_ "Phew..." I walk back and stand with everyone, now that Tristan and Joey have finally composed themselves enough to look at me as well. _

_ "Now," Giant Bakura starts, catching all of our attention. "I have you all right where I want you, helpless on the field." He pulls a card from his hand, and sets it in the Monster Card Zone facedown, saying, "Perfect prey for my Man-Eater Bug!"_

_ I flinch, and Joey asks, "Yuugi, what's that card do?"_

_ "The Man-Eater Bug can automatically destroy one creature on the field as soon as it's flipped up."_

_ "Well that's not good..." Téa mutters._

_ "Guys, I really don't want to go back to that Graveyard!" Tristan panics._

_ "You've been there already?!" I gasp._

_ He nods pathetically, and Joey steps forward. "Don't you worry, Tristan. We'll destroy that card before he flips it!"_

_ "That won't work..." Yuugi mumbles._

_ "Huh?"_

_ I look at Joey. "As soon as we attack it, it'll activate." I glare at Bakura. "It's usually a very good stall card."_

_ "So then... One of us is gonna end up worm food?!" Joey yells._

_ "There's only one way out of this, and we're standing on it." Yuugi tells him._

_ We all look back and see a card facedown in the Spell Card Zone._

_ Yuugi looks down. "I'm afraid to use it though. To activate its effect, we need to sacrifice a creature."_

_ "You mean... one of us?!" Téa gasps._

_ Tristan steps forward, pushing her behind everyone and says, "Don't worry Téa, I'll go."_

_ "No way, Tristan!"_

_ "C'mon, don't just jump into this!" I try to convince him._

_ "Think about it! It's gonna take one of us out no matter what we do. At least this way I'm takin' it ou-"_

_ Joey bashes the hilt of his blade into Tristan's stomach to shut him up. "You just got back from the Graveyard. If anyone's goin', it's me."_

_ "Joey, hold up. There's gotta be a way around this. Our turn just started." I look up at Big Yuugi. "Are there any other monsters you can play, or magic cards that will help?"_

_ He shakes his head sadly, and Joey says, "Well awright, I'm goin' for it."_

_ "Joey! Don't!" Yuugi yells._

_ But it's too late. Joey runs over to the facedown Man-Eater Bug and stabs the top of it. The monster appears and stands up, taking Joey with it. "Yuugi, use the trap!" He yells. "Do it! Please! I'm the only one that needs to get hurt!"_

_ Big Yuugi hesitates, then nods. "I'm activating a trap. Horn of Heaven, sacrificing my Flame Swordsman to do so." A bright light appears from under the bug, and it blinks both the bug and Joey off the field, sending them both to the Graveyard._

_ Everyone falls into stunned silence as we stare at the spot where Joey had just been, and now isn't._

_ Giant Bakura chuckles darkly. "Don't worry; you'll soon be joining him in the Graveyard. There, you can spend an eternity together." He smirks. "And I hope you don't harbor any hopes of getting him back, because you already played Monster Reborn, the only way to get him back."_

_ "Poor Joey..." Téa mumbles. "He sacrificed himself..."_

_ After a few moments, I notice a light shining somewhere behind us. Yuugi and I turn around and Yuugi says, "Oh yeah, Téa's the Magician of Faith!"_

_ My eyes widen hopefully. "So because of her effect, we can get a magic card back from the Graveyard!"_

_ "That's right!" Big Yuugi says. "And the card I choose is Monster Reborn!" He plays the card, and after just a few moments, Joey appears on it, looking around confused. When he catches sight of the card he was sitting on, he looks up at us grinning._

_ "Awright!"_

_ "You waste your time and your turns rescuing these foolish mortals." Giant Bakura scowls._

_ "My friends are never a waste of time." Big Yuugi retorts. "Make your move."_

_ With a smirk, Giant Bakura says, "This is the play that will end the match and win me your Millennium Puzzle. First I will play the Lady of Faith, in attack mode." He sets the card on the field, and the unthreatening creature appears on top of it. "And then the card that will turn your friends against one another, the Change of Heart!"_

_ "Isn't that Bakura's favorite card?" Yuugi gasps._

_ Giant Bakura smirks down at Yuugi. "With this card, I can turn you against your friends. The very friends you sought to protect, you will now destroy."_

_ I flinch involuntarily._

_ "No, I refuse!"_

_ "You won't have a choice in the matter! The Change of Heart card allows me to control any opposing monster, and I choose you, little Yuugi." He laughs darkly._

_ "Leave the young one out of this." Big Yuugi growls._

_ "Why should I? By simply destroying him, I can defeat you as well." Bakura slaps the card on the table and light shoots out from it._

_ We all shield our eyes, and when we look back, someone is standing there._

_ "It's Bakura!" I shout._

_ "The real Bakura..." Téa adds._

_ "So your soul was sealed in your favorite card too?" Yuugi asks._

_ "I want to help, but we must act quickly, Yuugi!" Bakura says, and he glides over to Giant Bakura's Lady of Faith, disappearing into it. "I've taken over one of his cards instead of yours!"_

_ "What?!" Giant Bakura gasps._

_ "Attack me!" Normal Bakura orders. "You can win against the evil Spirit of the Ring!"_

_ "I can't!" Yuugi shakes his head. "I'd be destroying you!" _

_ "I don't care! It's better than being enslaved by an evil spirit! Do it!"_

_ "Silence!" Giant Bakura snarls._

_ "I have a better idea!" Big Yuugi interjects. Light beams out of his Millennium Puzzle._

_ "If the evil power of Bakura's Millennium Ring can pull souls from people, perhaps the power of my Millennium Puzzle can put them back!"_

_ Bakura's expression changes, and his eyes soften before shooting wide, confused. He looks around quickly._

_ "Awesome!" I enthuse._

_ "Awright!" Joey cheers. "Our Bakura's back where he belongs!"_

_ "But where's the evil dude?" Tristan asks._

_ We look at the Lady of Faith, and sure enough, there he is._

_ "Listen closely Yuugi," Big Yuugi says, "Use the power of the Dark Magician. Send him to the Graveyard, now!"_

_ "You got it!" He yells. "Dark Magic Attack!"_

_ The world goes negative for a moment, then Evil Bakura shatters into a million pieces._

xxx

That's the last I remember of that. Afterward, we had all woken up on the ground of the forest. Before we even had a chance to calm down from that whole encounter, there was an ear-piercing scream from further into the forest. We tracked it down, and found Mai, her Dueling Glove empty of any Star Chips, just defeated by an "Eliminator," someone hired by Pegasus to weed out duelists. Yuugi challenged him to win Mai's Star Chips back, and he managed to pull it off.

After that, we chose a different spot to camp, by a cliff overhanging the ocean. Everyone else fell asleep, but I wasn't able to calm my brain down, so I was stuck awake. Though, there wouldn't have been much time to try to fall asleep anyway...

_xxx_

_Joey, Tristan, Yuugi, and Bakura had all fallen asleep outside, and Téa was in the tent that we had gotten from Mai. She had offered to let me sleep in there as well, but I'd told her I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep anytime soon, which I wasn't._

_ About an hour after everyone was asleep, I hear a noise that sounds like a helicopter in the distance. It gets closer, and louder, until it seems to be right by us. I realize what it is as the helicopter rises up from behind the cliff. I sit up, startled by its seemingly sudden appearance. The trees and grass are whipped around by the sudden disturbance of the air, and everyone wakes up, disoriented._

_ "HEY!" Joey yells, though it's impossible whoever was driving the helicopter would hear, "Some of us are trying to get some shut eye, you insensitive jerk!"_

_ Téa pokes her head out from the tent to see what's going on._

_ The chopper settles down on the grass and it's propellers start to slow. To my surprise, when the door opens, Kaiba steps out._

_ I try to hide my smile. Although it's not a big deal, I don't want to admit that I am happy to see him. After the whole duel with his apparent "ghost," it is nice to see him in person._

_ Yuugi runs over to him, and Kaiba says, "I haven't seen you since our duel, Yuugi."_

_ Yuugi nods, then says, "Oh!" He reaches into his pocket and takes out Kaiba's deck. "Here, your deck! I've been keeping it for you. Just think of it as a thank you for that duel you helped me win."_

_ "Thanks." Kaiba takes the cards, pauses, then says, "You'll be compensated for all of your trouble." He starts walking off to his right._

_ "Huh? Actually, Kaiba I was thinking that since we're all headed for Pegasus' castle, you could stick with us. Of course," He laughs once, awkwardly, "You'll need some Star Chips."_

_ Kaiba stops walking, but doesn't turn around. "Don't be so naive. This isn't just a game for me Yuugi."_

_ "Huh?"_

_ He turned to look at Yuugi. "I'm going after Pegasus to save my brother. Not so I could win some silly prize. Have fun with your tournament." The sarcasm in his voice is tangible._

_ "But... Kaiba."_

_ I frown. _Well that was fast...

_ Kaiba doesn't wait for him to finish; he just turns around and keeps walking._

_ "That snobby little-" Joey starts, then runs over in front of Kaiba, making him stop by grabbing his collar. Kaiba's expression doesn't even change in the slightest. "Hey, listen, tough guy! I can understand you wanting to get your brother back and all, but don't think you're the only one here with a noble cause. We all got something worth fighting for, so if you want a piece of Pegasus, get in line or deal with me!"_

_ "Joey..." I protest, taking a step forward. "Chill out." God, does everything have to turn into a fight with him...?_

_ Kaiba just glares at him evenly, and Joey continues, "That's right, hot shot, I ain't scared of you!"_

_ "Nice grip." Kaiba comments. "Let me show you mine." He rips Joey's hand off his collar and throws him to the ground behind him._

_ "That was uncalled for!" Bakura yells._

On the contrary... _I start to think._

_ Yuugi runs over to Joey and asks, "Joey, are you alright?"_

_ "Relax..." He replies, pushing himself up off the ground, "I'm fine."_

_ "Do you really think I'll let you and this little tournament you're in delay me from finding Pegasus?" Kaiba asks, as a rhetorical question._

_ Joey turns to face him. "Forget Pegasus, now you got me to deal with, so bust out your cards and let's duel!"_

_ "I can't tell if Joey's being really brave or... nuts." Téa comments._

_ "Nuts." I reply. "He's definitely being nuts..."_

_ "Forget it. Why don't you look for an opponent you can actually beat? Like an infant, or a monkey." Kaiba sneers._

_ I almost laugh, realizing how many people had made that reference to Joey, not knowing it already pissed him off._

_ "Huh? What'd you say?"_

_ "That monkey thing gets him every time..." Tristan mutters._

_ Kaiba smirks and turns away, headed for the castle again. "I don't have time for your nonsense."_

_ "Go ahead and run!" Joey taunts. "Everyone knows you're nothing but a washed up has-been!"_

_ "Joey," Yuugi steps in, "Be careful what you say. Kaiba's still pretty much considered the top duelist in all the world."_

_ "Not anymore!"_

_ Kaiba stops and turns to look at Joey._

_ "That's right, tough guy! I bet ever since Yuugi mopped the floor wit'cha, you can't even lay a trap card without flinchin'!"_

_ "C'mon, Joey, that's enough!" I warn._

_ "This is really the wrong guy to pick a fight with!" Téa adds._

_ "Whadya say, money bags?" Joey continued, ignoring us. "Care to prove me wrong?"_

_ Kaiba smirks. "On one condition."_

_ "Huh?"_

_ "We duel using my newest innovation in holographic duel technology." _

_ "What do you mean by that?" Yuugi asks._

_ "It means that if Joey's really that eager to duel me, he's going to have to do it using my latest holographic system." He holds up his briefcase. "It's a new high-tech dueling device that allows players the realism of Arena matches in any setting."_

_ I grin. _That's actually really cool...

_ "Looks like just a regular old briefcase to me." Joey comments._

_ "It's in the briefcase, you moron." Kaiba sets the briefcase on the ground and opens it up. He throws Joey a small round disk thing. "Its technology is unprecedented."_

_ After catching it, Joey looks at it, confused. "Looks like a flying saucer."_

_ "Don't be an idiot." Kaiba snaps. "This is the most state-of-the-art display modulator ever built. So if you think you have what it takes to handle it, just strap it on."_

_ I walk closer to Joey to see as he puts the smaller part on his wrist while Bakura holds the larger, disk-like part connected to it by a wire. "Okay, now what happens?"_

_ "First insert your dueling deck into the display drive recognizer. A Life Point count will light up and keep score for you the entire match." Kaiba explains, putting his deck into his system. "Then choose a card to play and set it on the digital card reader. I think the rest will explain itself." He puts a card on the center of the disk part._

_ "Huh, cool." Joey mutters._

_ "All set? Then let's duel." Kaiba smirks. "Now brace yourself for my Battle Ox!" Kaiba yells, throwing the disk part of the system into the center of the space between him and Joey like a Frisbee._

_ The disk spins in place like a top, and little sparkling lights start spiraling up out of it._

_ "Whoa, check that out..." Tristan says in awe. "It's like raining glitter!"_

_ Suddenly the light transforms into the Battle Ox, towering over everything._

_ "No way, that's a hologram?!" Yuugi gasped._

_ I laugh lightly. "Cool..."_

_ Joey scowls, seemingly determined to not be thrown off by the holograms, and draws a card. After placing it on the center part of the disk, he says, "Here goes nuthin'," and throws it._

_ Just like with Kaiba's disk, it hovers over the ground, spinning, producing a hologram of Joey's monster, the Armored Lizard._

_ I do the math in my head, though it was unnecessary. It's obvious that Armored Lizard is much weaker than Kaiba's creature. What is he doing...?_

_ "Go, Battle Ox!" Kaiba shouts. "Ax Slam Attack!" The monster lunges forward and slices the Lizards neck off._

_ "Okay, that's real enough for me!" Joey says as his card is flung from the disk._

_ "This new technology isn't for the faint of heart, Wheeler." Kaiba tells him, "It's intended to force duelists to think on their feet. If it's too much for you, maybe you should give up now."_

_ "Fat chance! Don't you worry, Kaiba, I'm a quick learner. Watch!" Joey draws a card from his deck and plays it. "Set the card, spin the disk..." He flings it into the field, "Aaaand bingo! The Flame Swordsman!" The warrior appears over the disk, and I shake my head._

_ Téa looks at me. "What is it?"_

_ "Battle Ox is resistant to fire type creatures..."_

_ "Attack!" Joey orders, and Yuugi yells to Joey what I just told Téa. "Now he tells me..." Joey complains as his monster is destroyed._

_ "Why am I not surprised that you'd make such an amateur mistake?" Kaiba taunts. "Maybe from now on you oughta let Yuugi pick all of your moves for you. Or better yet, why don't I teach you some of the more advanced moves of the game the hard way?" He places two cards on his disk and flings it into the field, yelling, "Mystic Horseman and Battle Ox, merge into Rabid Horseman!"_

_ The beast appears, and Joey says, "You think I'm afraid of that deformed pony?! I'll show you something that you should be afraid of!" He plays Swamp Battle Guard and tries to attack Kaiba's monster. Swamp Battle Guard is defeated, just like his last monster._

_ "Did Joey forget how to play...?" I say, a little louder than I'd meant to._

_ "Eh, shaddup!" Joey scowls back at me, and Kaiba chuckles. Joey turns back to the game and yells, "Ax Raider, avenge my Battle Guard!"_

_ I can't help but think, _Case in point...

_ Joey monster is defeated again, along with the next, and the next, and the next, and the next. All the slaughter brings his Life Points all the way down to 500. He drops to his knees._

_ Kaiba chuckles. "That's right Wheeler. Fall to the dirt like a whimpering dog."_

_ "C'mon, Joey!" Téa cheers. "You're the best at finding ways to come back from behind!"_

_ "Now get up!" Tristan orders. "No way Kaiba gets away with calling you a canine!"_

_ Joey gets up from his feet, finding new determination. "You're right, Tristan. No one calls me a whimpering dog! Once he sees what I got in store for him, he's gonna be the one on the dirt! Check this out!" Joey plays a card and throws the disk in front of him. "Red-Eyes Black Dragon! Inferno Fire Blast!" Joey orders. The flames crash into Kaiba's Rabid Horseman and destroy it, dropping Kaiba's Life Points to 1600. "Take that!"_

_ "It's just like a novice to rejoice when there's no reason to celebrate." Kaiba smirks. "True, the round may be yours, but the duel is about to become mine."_

_ "Say what?"_

_ "You Red-Eyes is a powerful dragon, but his ferocity pales in comparison to my beast." Kaiba sets a card on the disk. "The legendary Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" He flings the disk into the field, and the dragon appears. "Blue-Eyes, Burst Stream of Destruction, NOW!" The light shoots from the creature's mouth and rips Joey's Red-Eyes to pieces, dropping his Life Points to zero._

_ "Dammit, I lost..." Joey mutters, sinking to the ground again._

_ "That's right Wheeler, stay down. Stay down like the sniveling, defeated dog I've turned you into."_

_ "Are you alright, Joey?" Yuugi calls, and everyone runs over. I follow, walking._

_ "It's okay, kiddo." Tea comforts him as I join everyone._

_ "I'd say my duel disk system has proven quite effective." Kaiba comments. "Not only did it's stunning realism jar Wheeler into complete and utter submission, but just look at him. He's moping like a frightened dog with his tail between his legs, which is exactly how I intend to leave Pegasus."_

_ "But this is Joey!" Yuugi says._

_ "Yeah, you jerk!" Téa shouts. "Did you have to take his confidence away with his dragon? Joey was just starting to believe in himself as a duelist."_

_ "If we're being fair though," I whisper, "It was Joey who challenged Kaiba in the first place..."_

_ I am ignored, and Yuugi continues with, "Beating him doesn't give you the right to humiliate him!"_

_ "Quiet, Yuugi!" Joey tells him. "Don't give that creep the satisfaction!"_

_ "Hah, look kid," Kaiba begins, "do you honestly believe that if you were dueling Pegasus, he would've been any more merciful with you than I was? I understand that the Heart of the Cards is a powerful philosophy, and that it all works well for you, but I need to duel my own way now. I can't risk trying something new. And maybe Joey shouldn't either, unless he likes life as a dog, scrounging on the scraps of past victories and begging for mercy from true duelist."_

_ "Please, Kaiba, that's just not true." Yuugi says. "And you know it."_

_ "Oh yeah?" Kaiba looks back at the castle. "Well that's the attitude you have to take if want to stand a chance against Maximillion Pegasus. You don't understand, Yuugi. This is the man who created Duel Monsters. He has every card that's ever been made at his disposal. He's mastered every strategy that's ever been played! Pegasus always makes sure that he has every possible advantage working in his favor. If I'm to stand any chance against him at all, I'll have to play by my own ruthless rules, not his." He looks back at Yuugi. "Open your eyes. Even with your prodigious talents, Yuugi, you'll be defeated like all the others. Because when Pegasus duels, he uses much more than mere skill. I've seen him use a magic that's stronger than any card." He looks away from us. "It was at the intercontinental Tournament in New York City. I had been invited as Pegasus' guest of honor. A skilled hotshot duelist called Bandit Keith had made it to the final match. He was playing well, but I could see that Pegasus was still just toying with him. Of course, Keith had no idea. Pegasus just stared straight into Keith's eyes with unnerving confidence. Then he scribbled something on a piece of paper and called some kid over from the crowd. He gave him the piece of paper, and had him play for him. Somehow, Pegasus had known what card Keith was going to play, and told the kid how to beat it. I still don't know how he did it." Kaiba packs everything back in his briefcase and closes it. "I only hope my new duel disk system will give me the edge I need to beat him once and for all."_

_ "That story..." Yuugi murmurs, then continues at full volume, "It reminds me of when I faced Pegasus. It was like he was able to see all my cards. But Kaiba, that's still no excuse to take it out on us and turn Joey into your new system's guinea pig."_

Even though Joey's the one who challenged him in the first place... _I couldn't help but think._

_ "Perhaps, but that system could be my only way to beat Pegasus, so I had to test it. This is war for me Yuugi. Your friend was a casualty." He turns and starts walking away._

_ "Kaiba, we may not agree with each other's methods, but at least we both understand that Pegasus must be stopped."_

_ Kaiba pauses where he is, and Yuugi continues, "I hope you succeed in rescuing your brother."_

_ Kaiba turns his head to look back at Yuugi. "And I hope you succeed in your ventures. Let's just hope our paths don't cross again before this is all over." He turns away again and walks off in the direction of Pegasus' castle._

xxx

After that, we all were finally able to go to bed, though I never actually fell asleep. My brain just kept working. The next morning, Joey woke up with a start around eight and yelled for everyone to get up, aggravated about whatever he'd been making a fuss over in his sleep.

When we were walking around, Joey had run off, and we had to run around forever trying to find him. Eventually we found him fighting a duel in this dark creepy cave. He managed to win at the last minute, and the people he was up against left before us. They pushed a big boulder in front of the exit, trapping us inside.

Thanks to Bakura's Millennium Ring, we managed to make our way to the end of the labyrinth, but two eliminators, Para and Dox, stopped us. Joey and Yuugi had to play a tag team duel against them. After some weird rules and riddles, we managed to make it out. At this point, both Yuugi and Joey had earned ten Star Chips each.

When we climbed the stairs to the castle, we found Kaiba at the top, waiting for us. He challenged Yuugi to a duel, saying he couldn't let Yuugi pass, and that he couldn't let Yuugi face Pegasus. Eventually Yuugi agreed, and we all headed up to the roof the castle...

_xxx_

_Yuugi and Kaiba stand about five meters away from each other on the roof of Pegasus' castle; the rest of us stand off to the side to watch. Téa, Joey, Tristan, and Bakura are all bunched up in front of me in a line, and I let myself hang back the a little bit. I have come to realize that I have a much different view on the situation than everyone else, so I'm trying to keep my reactions to myself._

_As much as I think it was obvious that Kaiba and Yuugi were going to have a rematch eventually, this seems too random. Kaiba himself had said that he hoped their paths didn't cross again before all of this was over. There must be a reason for this timing._

_"Yuugi, here's the deal." Kaiba starts. "We'll each wager five Star Chips on this duel, and the winner will be the only one who earns the right to enter the main castle."_

_"Done. Five Chips." Yuugi replies, removing them from his Dueling Glove._

_Yuugi and Kaiba both put their decks into their duel disks._

_"C'mon Yuugi, you beat him once, so we know you can do it again!" Joey shouts._

_Tristan and Téa voice their agreements. I keep silent._

_"Whoever wins faces Pegasus, and whoever loses... well, you'll be left a broken man." Kaiba says._

_Yuugi retorts, "We'll see who gets broken, Kaiba. I will defeat you once and for all."_

_The Life Point counters sent to 2000, beginning the duel._

_"Stand back and prepare for battle. I play Ryu-Kishin in attack mode!" Kaiba yells, tossing the device into the field. Suddenly, four cards appear in front of him._

_"Look, the cards!" Téa gasps._

_"They're holograms, just like the monsters!" Joey adds._

_"Awesome..." I can't help but murmur._

_Yuugi throws his disk into the field, announcing, "I play Curse of Dragon, in attack mode!"_

_Kaiba chuckles. "Well done. A formidable card, Yuugi, and a play I would expect from a duelist of your caliber."_

_"Don't patronize me!" Yuugi growls._

_"I know from playing you that you're a talented duelist, but you're just not as good as I am. Listen up, only one duelist is gonna challenge Pegasus, and that's me!"_

_"Wrong."_

_"Then attack and find out. What's the matter, Yuugi? No faith in your monster?"_

_"You'll see. He's mightier than yours. Go, Curse of Dragon! Attack Ryu-Kishin!"_

_The blast from Curse of Dragon blows Kaiba's monster to pieces. His Life Points fall to 1600._

_It seems almost comical to me, the way Yuugi was actually letting Kaiba's words get to him. If this kept up, Yuugi would end up throwing the duel disk off the roof before anyone actually won._

_"You're good, but so predictable." Kaiba chuckles. "Don't you think I expected that attack? And once again, you've played right into my hands, Yuugi."_

_"He's bluffin'!" Joey shouts. "You already got Kaiba on the ropes!"_

_"It's not a bluff, as you will all soon see." Kaiba says, drawing his next card. "I play Swordstalker! This card gathers the life force of a fallen ally, raising his own attack power by 20%!" Swordstalker's attack goes from 2000 to 2400._

Well, now we know why Kaiba let his last monster be destroyed that easy._ I think._

_"Attack now, Swordstalker!" When his monster goes to slice up Yuugi's, the Curse of Dragon vanishes._

_"What?!" Kaiba's eyes widen. "The Curse of Dragon disappeared..."_

_"That's because I laid a Monster Replace magic card on the field!" Yuugi replies. "The card from my hand that switched with my Curse of Dragon is the Dark Magician!"_

_Instead of the score evening up, Kaiba's monster is destroyed and his Life Points drop to 1500._

_"Alright!" Joey cheers. "Hey, Kaiba, Yuugi put the moves on you again!" He taunts._

_"Hm, clueless." Kaiba smirks._

_"Now I can replay my Curse of Dragon in attack mode!" Yuugi finishes his turn. "Your move, Kaiba."_

_"I'll take on your magic with a magician of my own." Kaiba throws the disk out. "I summon La Jinn, the mystical genie."_

But La Jinn... only has 1800 life points..._ I think._ He must be planning something. It probably isn't smart for Yuugi to attack.

_"Dark Magician, attack La Jinn!" Yuugi commands._

_"Uh-oh..." I mutter._

_"Your attack activates my trap!" Kaiba shouts. "The Ancient Lamp!" One of the card holograms in front of Kaiba spins around and reveals itself. A typical looking genie's lamp appears. "First, it protects my genie by drawing him into the lamp. Then the lamp deflects your attack, turning it back on your monster..." The Dark Magician's attack bounds off from the lamp and hits Yuugi's Curse of Dragon, destroying it, "... which lowers your score to equal mine."_

_Yuugi continues his turn, yelling, "My deflected attack may have destroyed Curse of Dragon, but I still have the Dark Magician. Kaiba, for all your bragging, the score is tied. We're evenly matched."_

_"This is way too intense!" Tristan says._

_"Remember, Yuugi beat Kaiba once before." Bakura reminds._

_"I'd like to beat Kaiba all right..." Joey mutters._

_I roll my eyes at Joey's instant solution of violence._

_Kaiba speaks up. "What's the matter, Yuugi? You look a bit worried. Finally realizing that without your precious Exodia cards you don't stand a chance against me?"_

_"I won't need Exodia to defeat you, Kaiba." Yuugi retorts._

_Kaiba reels in his duel disk and draws a card. He smirks. "If I keep drawing cards like this, you will. I arm my genie with the De-Spell card." Kaiba flings the disk into the field. "The De-Spell card can deactivate any magic card, and that's a loss I'm quite sure you can't afford, Yuugi. La Jinn, activate De-Spell!" The burst of light from the genie's hands blasts through Yuugi's cards, destroying his Swords of Revealing Light. "Hmm, that's a tough loss, Yuugi."_

_"That genie is big trouble, but as long as he has the lamp to hide in, Yuugi can't touch him..." Bakura says._

_"Is there anyway to destroy the lamp?" Téa asks._

_"Of course. Every card has a weakness!" Joey tells her._

And this is only a simple trap card. _I think, not wanting to speak aloud._

_Yuugi draws a card and throws his duel disk, shouting, "I call upon the Dark Magician."_

_"I'm surprised you've put your magician at risk, Yuugi, when you have no idea what I have in store for you." Kaiba tells him._

_"Then perhaps before I attack I should see what you're planning for myself!" Yuugi smirks, then activates a trap card. "Behold, the Magic Eye of Truth! So called because the Eye of Truth knows all, sees all."_

_"What's he mean?" Téa wonders aloud._

_"The Magic Eye of Truth allows Yuugi to see all of the cards in Kaiba's hand." I tell her quietly._

_Kaiba's cards turn to face us one by one, and the last card reveals a Blue-Eyes White Dragon._

_"What?!" Yuugi gasps._

_"He has Blue-Eyes, and he hasn't played it?" I murmur, mostly to myself._

_"You can always count on Kaiba to have a Blue-Eyes White Dragon or three up his sneaky, slimy sleeve."_

_I refrain from scowling at Joey. It's super irritating to me that everyone's insulting Kaiba like he's a horrible person, but the only reason he was here is to rescue Mokuba, his little brother..._

_"Three Blue-Eyes White Dragons?" Bakura asks. "That's got to be nearly impossible to beat..."_

_"Yeah, well, Yuugi's beaten three Blue-Eyes before, and he'll beat them again!" Téa huffs._

_"So, Yuugi," Kaiba starts, "the mundane magic of your wimpy Eye of Truth allowed you a sneak peak at my hand. But what good does it do you? The fact still remains that your Dark Magician can't do anything against La Jinn, not while he has his lamp to protect him."_

_"Then I'll destroy it!" Yuugi shouts. "Through the magic of my Mystic Box!" The card turns around for everyone to see. "Now watch closely Kaiba, as first, my Dark Magician is sealed within the box. Now the Mystic Box is skewered by swords." As he speaks, swords shoot into the box from two sides. "But, have I destroyed my own Dark Magician, or have I magically extinguished your Ancient Lamp?" As he says the words, the box opens its doors to reveal the skewered Lamp._

_Kaiba glowers. "You've destroyed my card..."_

_"And the magic's only half done, Kaiba," Yuugi continues, "for my Dark Magician emerges from the Mystic Box, unharmed. Now, Dark Magician, Dark Magic Attack!" Yuugi orders._

_La Jinn bursts into pieces, bringing Kaiba's Life Points down to 800._

_"It's just as you said, Kaiba," Yuugi blabbers on, "The Ancient Lamp may have protected your monster, but once it was destroyed, you genie was now match for the Dark Magician!"_

_Kaiba smirks. "Your little magic show may have been entertaining, but let's not lose perspective, hmm?" He nods to his cards. "You know I've got a Blue-Eyes waiting in the wings, and I know you have nothing that can stand against it."_

_"Hmm." Yuugi shakes his head. "You _know _nothing! The Eye of Truth showed me your hand, not the other way around."_

_"I don't need to see your hand, but I think you need to be taught a lesson, and I'll be happy to make my next play painfully instructive." He throws the duel disk forward. "Saagi the Dark Clown!"_

_Yuugi seems to mull over this seemingly harmless play, but as we all know, it couldn't have really been all that harmless. Yuugi reels in the duel disk and plays a new monster, Gaia the Fierce Knight, wisely not putting the Dark Magician at risk. "Attack!"_

_The monster lurched forward and eventually made contact with the Dark Clown, but instead of the pieces of the monster vanishing like usual, they floated around for a few seconds. Yuugi ignores this and says, "You Dark Clown has been vanquished, Kaiba."_

_Kaiba's eyes narrow the smallest bit as he smirks. "Vanquished and sacrificed are two very different things, Yuugi. Look again."_

_The pieces of Saagi that are still hanging around start to glow, then dissolve. Suddenly Gaia starts to look fuzzy, like he is on a TV with a bad connection. "What's happening?" Yuugi gasps. As he speaks, Gaia dissolves just like the Clown had. "My monster!"_

_"Not just that monster, Yuugi." Kaiba comments._

_"What?!" Yuugi stares in shock as another card on his field dissolves. "My Dark Magician! What have you done, Kaiba?"_

_"It's really quite ingenious, actually." Kaiba says, matter-of-factly. "Knowing that you couldn't resist attacking my Dark Clown, I infected him with the Crush Card virus. By destroying the infected Saagi, you released the virus, a virus that is so highly contagious to Duel Monsters that even as I speak these words, it is infecting all but the weakest cards in your precious dueling deck."_

_Yuugi looks down at his disk and growls, "No!"_

_Kaiba chuckles. "The only monsters unaffected by that virus are those with an attack power weaker that 1500. Looks like I've broken the heart of your cards, Yuugi!" He laughs darkly._

_"Wow..." I murmur. "This changes a lot..."_

_"Well played," Yuugi says, "but it will take a lot more than a virus to win this duel, Kaiba!"_

_"Yes, I expect that it will." He doesn't sound sarcastic. "Actually I'm looking forward to subjecting you to a wide array of debilitating cards."_

_"Keep talking the talk, big-mouth Kaiba!" Joey shook his fist at him. "Just don't forget that Yuugi beat you last time!"_

_I can barely keep myself from rolling my eyes. _Big-mouth Kaiba? Way to dig deep for an insult there, Joey. _I almost cover my mouth as if I had spoken it aloud. The reason for my sudden bitterness was that the whole, "let's stand here and shout insults at Kaiba from the sidelines!" routine was getting old. I get that they were defending Yuugi, but..._

_I close my eyes. It's not that I want Yuugi to lose, but... if he does, there is still time for him to go back out and win the five Star Chips he would consequently forfeit. Kaiba, however... Whatever caused him to suddenly want to challenge Yuugi, saying whomever wins will get into Pegasus' castle... Well, the only explanation I can come up with for this is that Pegasus must be the one who put him up to this. And if Kaiba loses this duel, he won't get into the castle, and if he didn't get into the castle, then what will happen to Mokuba...?_

_If Yuugi wins, Mokuba will most likely be held prisoner forever, and we can help Gramps faster. But if Kaiba wins, he'll have his chance to rescue Mokuba, and Yuugi will just have to take an extra few minutes to earn back the five Chips._

_I open my eyes to examine Kaiba's face. Even though he is smirking, his eyes tell me a different story. That this isn't just a rematch. This is war, and his enemy isn't even Yuugi._

_The way I see it... There's only one way to make sure everyone wins, and that's for Yuugi to lose._

_"Your turn, Yuugi." Kaiba says. "Let's see how your disease-ridden deck serves you now."_

_"You may have infected the _body_ of my deck, Kaiba," Yuugi retorts, "but it is the _heart _of the cards that will see me through this contamination." He draws a card, frowns, then places a different card onto his duel disk before tossing it forward. "Silver Fang, defense mode! Your turn."_

_"Ironic that a wolf will be the first of your sacrificial lambs, but so be it." Kaiba draws his card, but also chooses to play a different one already in his hand. "Battle Ox, awaken, and let loose the dogs of war!" The beast lunged forward and easily took out Yuugi's Silver Fang._

_"It's cool! Just a minor setback!" Tristan encouraged. "No big deal!"_

_Kaiba laughed darkly. "Your pitiful defenses can't even withstand the crude assaults of my Battle Ox! How do you expect to protect your Life Points when your defenses are demolished and you have nothing left to shield you against my even more powerful monsters? You should accept your fate for now, Yuugi. After all, you'll have the rest of your entire life to brood over this defeat."_

_Yuugi doesn't respond and draws. "Griffore!" He calls. "Let's see you deal with this attack, Kaiba!"_

_"A Griffore?" Kaiba snickers. "I think you've made a grave miscalculation, Yuugi. His pathetic defenses are no match for my Battle Ox."_

_Yuugi chuckled. "Whoever said that I was going to be playing him in defense mode?"_

_I blink. "Uh, but that card had 500 less attack than Battle Ox..."_

_"What do you mean?" Kaiba asks, seeming genuinely confused._

_"I'm attacking with my Griffore with the help of my Horn of the Unicorn!" As head speaks, the card from his hand spins around. "Magic Lightning combo attack!" Surprisingly, the Griffore's attack actually defeats Battle Ox, bringing Kaiba's Life Points down to 600._

_"Alright!" Joey cheers. "I'm feelin' a comeback in the works!"_

_"Good show!" Bakura chips in. "That was a brilliant play at a critical juncture!"_

_"Impressive, Yuugi," Kaiba allows, "using a combo attack to combat the perils of my virus. But I'm afraid that there are some hazards in my deck that are simply inevitable. It's my turn now." Kaiba draws his next card. "Prepare yourself for ultimate annihilation, Yuugi. But first, I'm invoking the Mystical Elf!" Kaiba calls, and the card spins around. "This reinforces my Life Points by 300." His Life Points count crawls up to 900. "Now, I summon the mighty Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" The creature appears on the field._

_No matter how many times that card is played, it still amazes me._

_"Now, Yuugi, your fate belongs to me!" Kaiba yells. "Take flight, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" The dragon propels itself into the air so it is glaring down on everyone. "Go, Burst Stream of Destruction!" The light starts as a simple flash, then rockets downward and rips apart Yuugi's Griffore. Yuugi's Life Points fall to 400._

_"Already my Blue-Eyes has you cowering," Kaiba smirks, "and this is only the beginning. Soon you will know what fear is."_

_Yuugi scoffs. "I don't fear your Blue-Eyes, Kaiba! I've defeated it before, and with my Giant Solider of Stone guarding me," as he speaks, he plays the creature, "I'll manage to defeat it again!"_

_"I'm afraid you're mistaken." Kaiba draws his next card, and I watch as something lights up in his eyes. He looks back at Yuugi. "Yuugi, when you battled my Blue-Eyes before, they were three separate dragons; formidable, yes, but not invincible." He reeled in his duel disk. "But now I've found a way to merge their power, combine their attack points to create..." He threw the disk. "A monster with power beyond imagining! Now I create a Duel Monster without peer, with attack force so great that no monster can stand against him!" The cards that appear on the field are the second Blue-Eyes, Polymerization, and the third Blue-Eyes. The dragon in the sky lights up as well._

_"No way..." I breathe._

_Suddenly a beam of light shoots down from the sky, encircling all four cards on Kaiba's field. When it fades, instead of just one Blue-Eyes, or three separate dragons, there's a three headed Blue-Eyes White Dragon._

_Kaiba continues, "I create the Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon!" Its attack power was all the way up at 4500._

_I can't help but gasp. "Whoa!"_

_Kaiba laughs darkly. "Yuugi Muto, there's no escape! Nothing can save you now!"_

_"That monsters attack is ridiculous!" Téa cries._

_"Yeah, how could any creature in Yuugi's deck beat that thing?" Joey asks._

_I shake my head and think, _They can't. _Yuugi's most powerful monster is the Dark Magician and even powering that up with all his attack-boosting cards, there is no way it would ever beat this dragon._

_Kaiba shouts, "Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon, Neutron Blast Attack!" The beast literally put its heads together and launch their immeasurably powerful blast. Although Yuugi's monster is blown away, I'm surprised Yuugi himself wasn't blown off the roof. "You're lucky your Stone Soldier was in defense mode."_

_"At least Yuugi didn't lose any Life Points..." Joey mutters._

_"My Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon atomized your creature to dust. You know you have nothing to stand against it. You should concede." Kaiba taunted._

_For one moment, Yuugi seems to actually consider it, and Joey steps right up to speak. "No, Yuugi!_

_Bakura adds, "You can win this!"_

_That's right!" Téa agrees. "We all believe in you!"_

_"You gotta remember what you're fighting for, Yuug!" Joey yells. "You've never let anyone down before, and I know you're not gonna let your grandpa down now!"_

_Yuugi seems to require his game face and calls, "No, Kaiba. I will never surrender to the likes of you."_

_"That's it. That's the kind of determination I expect from you. Fight on. I prefer to take you down when you're fighting your hardest." Kaiba chuckles. "It comes to this. So draw your card and face your fate!"_

_Yuugi pulls a card from his deck and looks at it. His eyes widen a bit, and he chuckles. "Kaiba, I just drew the card that will defend me against your Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon."_

_"Impossible." Kaiba growls, voicing my thoughts._

_"Watch and learn!" He pulls his duel disk in to place a card on it before returning it to the field. "This is it; the beginning of your defeat! Kuriboh, in attack mode!"_

_I sweat-drop. "Uh, is this... a joke...?"_

_"Yuugi wouldn't joke at a time like this!" Téa tells me, though confused herself._

_"Then why did he play that thing in attack mode?!"_

_"That's ridiculous!" Kaiba shouts. "In the entire game, Kuriboh is the weakest monster!"_

_"What can Yuugi be thinking, playing that little guy?" Joey wonders aloud._

_Kaiba chuckles. "Yuugi, you're free to concede and forfeit the match, but come on. Don't embarrass yourself by playing that runt of a monster. You must know that's the puniest creature with the lowest attack points in all of Duel Monsters. I've never know a serious duelist to even keep one in their deck. Don't insult my intelligence pretending that miserable creature can defend against the unbridled might of my Ultimate Blue-Eyes."_

_"Kaiba, you're mistaken." Yuugi smirks. "This card will defend everything! And before this duel is over, your dragon will fall!"_

_"Nonsense! Hurry up and finish your turn so I can knock the stuffing out of your Kuriboh and win the game."_

_"As you wish! My last card will be the magic card, Multiply! It works only with monsters with attack power lower than 500, and multiplies them endlessly." As he speaks, Kuriboh start popping up everywhere. "More than you bargained for, eh, Kaiba?"_

_"So, is this some kind of a joke?" Kaiba yells._

_Yuugi laughs. "The joke's on you, Kaiba. You though I only had one defender, but now, I have many. And I'm getting more and more defenders by the second."_

_It's true. Now there seems to be hundreds of Kuriboh in front of Yuugi's side of the field, and more keep appearing._

_"No matter. Have you forgotten the incredible assault power my dragon possesses? It'll burn them to a crisp! Neutron Blast!" The dragon attacks Yuugi's Kuriboh, and when the light from the bursts fades, there are still a bunch of Kuriboh, and still more keep popping up. "What's going on here? My dragon's attack had no effect on your Life Points at all!"_

_"That's right. You can't take my remaining Life Points away until you wipe out all the Kuriboh. But as quickly as you destroy them, they multiply right back."_

_"So, Yuugi's Life Points are literally unreachable." I murmur quietly._

_"Hair balls! For each one I destroy, two more take it's place!" Kaiba growls._

_"Kaiba, you may have created the ultimate attack monster but _I _have created the ultimate defense." Yuugi smirks. "And that's just the beginning, for now I go on the attack!"_

_"You've nothing strong enough!"_

_"Watch me, for now I'm going to show you the combo that will bring your dragon down!" When he speaks each of the next cards, they reveal themselves respectively. "Mammoth Graveyard, Polymerization, and the Living Arrow card."_

What's that last one do...? I've never heard of it. _I think._

_"The Living Arrow allows me to use my other cards in combination not with my own cards, but with my opponent's monsters. I'll show you." Yuugi explains. "Normally, I make a fusion with my cards. But for a new twist Living Arrow lets me fuse my cards with yours, opening up bold new possibilities!" The cards slide together and the Mammoth Graveyard appears on the field. "I can use the Living Arrow to bond my Mammoth Graveyard to the heart of your beast!" The monster lunges forward, transforming into an arrow, and shoots straight into the dragons chest. Then the Mammoth's head appears where the arrow had struck._

_"What have you done?!" Kaiba snarls._

_"Since my Mammoth Graveyard is an undead-type monster, he can't properly fuse with your living Ultimate Dragon. Instead, it causes you monster to rot and decay from the inside out. Each turn your Ultimate Dragon will lose attack points until your creature is no more." The dragon starts melting, as if it were simply made of Play-Doh. "Your so-called Ultimate Dragon - and your victory - is rotting away, Kaiba. It's only a matter of time now, and there's nothing you can do to stop it."_

_As the reality of the situation sinks in, my heart drops. Kaiba couldn't get rid of the Kuriboh, and each turn that would pass, Ultimate Dragon would lose attack. So he was stuck between a rock and a hard place._

_"There must be _something _I can do to save my Ultimate Dragon!" Kaiba growls._

_"My Mammoth Graveyard has attack points of 1200. That means that each turn that goes by, he drains 1200 points from your Dragon's attack power. Soon it will be weak enough for me to destroy!"_

_Ultimate Dragon's attack drains to 3300._

_"Alright!" Tristan cheers. "That single attack is bringing Yuugi back from the brink!"_

_"Way to go, Yuugi!" Joey shouts. "You're da man!"_

_"Great move!" Téa adds in._

_"So whaddya say now, Kaiba?" Joey taunts. "Guess three heads aren't better than one!"_

_I allow myself to frown, the only one (besides Kaiba) disappointed by Yuugi's comeback._

_Kaiba continues glowering at the wall of Kuriboh ahead of him, and mutters something to the effect of, "Can't lose..." Then he shouts. "Attack now, Ultimate Dragon!" The poor monster can't even lift its' heads when it goes to attack. I start feeling nauseous._

_"When will you learn?" Yuugi shakes his head. "The Kuriboh multiply faster than you can eliminate them!"_

_"No..." Kaiba growls. "I will not - cannot be defeated!"_

_"I'll draw one more card and let my mammoth finish my turn." Yuugi says easily._

_The Ultimate Dragon's attack fell to 2100._

_The look on Kaiba's face says stressed, but his eyes tell me desperate. "Go, Ultimate Dragon!" He shouts. "Neutron Blast!" This attack was an exact rerun of Kaiba's last turn. When the light fades, the Kuriboh continue to multiply._

_"Once again, your attack has failed, Kaiba!" Yuugi points out. "My defense holds. And you have no other strategy to use against me. Your time is running out. You should never have challenged me, Kaiba. You see? My mammoth takes another 1200 points from your dragon. "_

_Ultimate Dragon's attack falls to 900._

_Yuugi continues. "Even my weakest monsters can destroy it now."_

_Kaiba's arms fall limp to his sides, and his eyes slide wide. He stares at the melting Blue-Eyes Ultimate Dragon before him, but by the absent look in his eyes, I don't think he's seeing the same thing we are._

_I feel a shiver run up my spine, and my heart squeezes. _He looks so... broken. _I think. How can anyone be okay with this? Can everyone here really have a clear conscience knowing that we took away Kaiba's chance of getting his little brother back? Especially since Yuugi will have another opportunity to enter the castle if he loses. But for some reason, I seem to be the only one that sees this. Either that or no one else even cares._

_"What's with Kaiba?" Joey asks. "He's just standin' there completely spacin' out!"_

_"Maybe it's finally sunk in that he's _lost_!" Tristan says._

_"True, in just a minute it'll all be over." Bakura adds. "But it's almost sad to see a player of his caliber take losing so hard."_

_I shake my head at them. "I think you guys are missing something."_

_Everyone looks back at me confused._

_"You _do_ all remember that Pegasus has Mokuba, correct? He didn't challenge Yuugi _just_ for the rematch. This was his shot to get in there and save his brother."_

_Joey cocks his head to the side, confused. "Yeah, but Yuugi needs to get in there for his grandpa."_

_I can't help but clench my hands into fists. _So I _am_ the only one who sees the bigger picture here. _I growl silently._

_Everyone turns back to the duel, as if Joey's statement made it okay to condemn Mokuba to life in the hands of Pegasus' dungeons._

_Yuugi decides to start his turn, and draws a new card. I close my eyes and secretly hope he doesn't draw a monster to attack with._

_"This is it, Kaiba!" Yuugi shouts. "Prepare to meet your demise!" He places a card on the duel disk and throws it out, the Celtic Guardian appearing on the field. "Celtic Guardian, attack Ultimate Dragon!" And it did, slicing off one of the creature's heads._

_I flinch a little bit, but still sigh internally knowing the attack won't completely wipe out Kaiba's Life Points, just knock them down to 400. I look over at Kaiba, but he hasn't reacted in the slightest. The expression on his face makes my heart clench._

_As everyone cheers, I find myself wondering if they are as kind as I had first thought them to be._

_"Hey, the Ultimate Dragon is still standing!" Joey questions, "What's up with that?"_

_"It's a fusion of three monsters, so it's possible for it to withstand multiple attacks." I say quietly._

_Kaiba closes his eyes and finally speaks. "Yuugi, it can't end this way. If I don't defeat you in this duel, Pegasus will keep Mokuba prisoner... forever. I can't let that happen." He looks back up at Yuugi. "And even though I don't have a card that can keep you from attacking, I think I still have a strategy that will stop you in your tracks."_

_"No. This game is over, Kaiba." Yuugi disagrees._

_"On the contrary, this game has only just begun. I lost 500 Life Point from that attack, so..." He motions to the stone blocks that make up the floor. "Each of these squares on the ground will be 100 of my Life Points. I will step back as many as needed for how many Points I lose."_

_Yuugi gasps. "What?"_

_Kaiba continues in an eerily calm voice. "I lost 500 points. In other words, I'll move back 5 squares." He took four steps back, but to take the fifth, he had to step up on the raised blocks at the end of the wall. If he took one more step back, he would go off the edge of the roof. "I have nothing more to lose. If you hit me again... If you win this game... I will die."_

_My eyes widen and my heart skips a beat when what's happening sinks in, and I step forward involuntarily. "Kaiba, stop!"_

_"Aah, Kaiba's bluffin'." Joey says, then yells, "Come on, drop this cheap ploy. Get down from that ledge and play fair!"_

_My eyebrows curve down. "I don't think he's bluffing..." I murmur worriedly, eyes locked on Kaiba._

_Joey ignores me and continues shouting at Kaiba, "You know Yuugi doesn't want to hurt you!"_

_"He knows." Bakura says. "He's counting on Yuugi to surrender."_

_"But he can't do that..." Joey looks back at him._

_"I'm warning you, Kaiba." Yuugi growls. "Don't push me too far! I must win to rescue my grandfather!"_

_"And I must win this duel to rescue Mokuba." Kaiba replies. Since it's his turn, he draws a card. "A magic card. Monster Reborn, which I'll use to resurrect the Blue-Eyes head that was just destroyed by your monster."_

_"Restore a head of the Blue-Eyes?" Yuugi questions._

_A shiny new Blue-Eyes head appears where the last had been killed._

_"Now one of my Blue-Eyes, with its original attack of 3000, has just been reborn." Kaiba says. "Two of Ultimate Dragon's heads are still weakened, but the third can wipe out your Guardian in a breath. Our Life Points are even. Strike now, or next turn, I swear I'll take you down."_

_I tear my eyes away from Kaiba to look at Yuugi, and from the look on his face, he is seriously at a conflict within himself. After a few moments though, he grits his teeth and shouts, "Kaiba, I've never backed away, and I'm not starting now! Celtic Guardian attack!" The creature lunges forward._

_My stomach clenches, sickened, but I burst through everyone at a full sprint towards Yuugi, shouting, "What are you doing?! Yuugi, call off your attack! You can't do this!"_

_He looks at me, then his eyes widen, as if he realizes what he's doing, then falls to his hands and knees, yelling, "Stop!"_

_I stop where I am, skidding a bit, and whip around to see the Celtic Guardian slow to a halt in front of the Ultimate Dragon and put its sword down._

_The moment seems to drag on as I stare where the creature is standing, trying to calm my heart, until Kaiba says, "Couldn't do it, huh?" After a short pause, he orders his Blue-Eyes to destroy Yuugi's monster, and that takes Yuugi's Life Points to zero._

_I look back at Yuugi, and his shoulders are shaking. I realize that he's crying._

_Joey, Tristan, Téa, and Bakura run over as well, and Joey says, "It's okay, man!"_

_"I almost couldn't control it..." Yuugi says quietly. "This other presence deep inside me... It was willing to kill Kaiba!"_

_"Another presence...?" I murmur._

_"What do you mean?" Tristan asks._

_"Like me, Yuugi has some sort of ancient spirit inside him. It has something to do with our Millennium Items."_

So like in that duel... in the Shadow Realm. _I think. _That other Yuugi that was dueling... that was this other presence...? So does he come out every time Yuugi duels then?

_"I'm afraid of this spirit inside me..." Yuugi whispers. "So afraid, that I'll never duel again..."_

_Téa kneels down and says, "I'm sorry... sorry about your grandpa..." Her voice shakes as she speaks. "But... you did the right thing... You couldn't hurt another person to save him. He wouldn't want to be saved that way."_

_"Then I guess he got what he wanted." Kaiba says from behind us, and we turn to look at him. "If Yuugi had done what needed to be done, he would be entering the castle, not me."_

_Téa stands up angrily. "He spared you!" She yells. "Kaiba, he showed you compassion, which is more than you deserve!"_

_"Téa..." I murmur in protest, but she ignores me._

_"Yuugi may have lost the game, but at least he hasn't lost his heart! Unlike you, Seto Kaiba! You've spent so much time with your machines, you've forgotten what being human is about!"_

_"Téa, stop it." I say a little louder, but still, she continues._

_"Yuugi has a heart, Kaiba. Yuugi h-as us - friends that will stand with him to the end, no matter whether he loses some lousy game. And what do you have, Seto Kaiba? What do you have at the end of the day? Tell me!"_

_"Téa!" I finally shout._

_She looks at me, and Kaiba starts to leave, saying, "I have all that I need!"_

_"Yeeeah, keep fooling yourself, Kaiba." Joey yells after him. "Yuugi's twice the man you'll ever be."_

_Kaiba didn't look back, ignoring Joey._

_"Jeez, would you guys knock it off?" I growl. They look at me confused, and I say. "Why haven't any of you put the pieces together yet?" I look at Téa specifically. "Kaiba has his brother, and that's what he was fighting for today. That's why he went to such extreme measures to win."_

_"But Yuugi had just at much at stake!" Téa retorts._

_"I have to disagree, because from the looks of my watch," I look at it, "There's still plenty of time for Yuugi to earn back the five Star Chips he just lost. If we get right to it."_

_Everyone exchanges glances, and Joey says, "Well then, let's not waste our time!"_

_I get a few irritated looks from Tristan and Joey, but I don't care. Kaiba didn't need all those insults from Joey, and he definitely didn't need to be yelled at by Téa. But he did need to win that duel._

_And I am glad he did._

xxx

After that, we managed to get Yuugi as far as the main courtyard in front of the castle, but he refused to go any further and stopped responding. That's when we met up with Mai Valentine, who managed not only to get her ten Star Chips back, but also the ones that she said she owed him from when he beat Panik, the eliminator, and earned the Chips that she'd lost to him back. However, in the state he was in, Yuugi didn't take the Star Chips. This pissed Mai off, and decided to refuse to give them to him, and instead wanted him to duel her for them. When Yuugi still refused to respond, Téa decided to duel Mai for them. Mai agreed, but mercifully surrendered and gave the Chips to Téa. Within this time period, Yuugi had snapped out of his trance and accepted the Chips from Téa.

Now, we were all entering the castle to face the Duelist Kingdom Finals. It was time to see if all we went through was worth it...

* * *

**Soo... Review? ;D Not only to be awesome like that, but also I'd like to know if there's typos that need fixin'! (I keep trying to put in SOME KIND of breakers in between flashbacks and story telling, but dashes didn't work, the periods irritated me. I'm trying x's now. Sorry guys!)**


	6. Chapter 6: A Step Backward

We made our way through Pegasus' castle, up stairs, through hallways, just how we'd been directed. The walls were all sickly pastel pink and the floor was light blue-ish tile.

Eventually we came to a balcony looking area, about the width of the hallway directly emptying to it, with an elegant looking railing to the right. Leaning against that railing was Bandit Keith, the guy who had trapped us in the cave after Joey won a duel against his little minion, Bonz.

"Hey guys, isn't that..." I started.

"Bandit Keith," Joey finished. "I can't stand this guy."

Keith looked over at us as we approached. "Well, what do you know? If it isn't big, tough Joey and his whole crew of dueling dummies." He said in a condescending tone.

"You slime-bucket! I've been waiting to find you ever since you trapped us in that cave! "Joey, again, jumping at the opportunity for violence, lunged forward at Keith.

When he went for the first punch, Keith barely moved to avoid it. "Whoops." Joey punched again, and Keith again only needed to put a little effort in to dodge. "Missed me." Joey punched one last time, and Keith caught his fist. "Too slow. Can't this little grudge of yours wait?"

"You wish, creep!" Joey growled.

"Suit yourself, but the real action is about to start." Keith said, looking over the balcony.

"Real action?" Joey questioned.

I walked over to the balcony to look over. Below us was a huge room that was somewhat hard to describe. There was another balcony a story below us on the opposite side of the room, and a metal bridge across the middle, but no other floor. The rest of the room looked like it dropped down forever.

However, the most interesting sight was that in the middle of the metal bridge stretched across the room, stood Kaiba.

"Hey guys, it's Kaiba!" I said, motioning everyone over to see.

"Yeah, the World Champ and Pegasus." Bandit Keith told us. "I'd hoped to get first crack at the old man myself, but you know, they save the best match for last." He smirked pompously.

"What did you say?" Yuugi looked at him.

"Do you mean... Kaiba and Pegasus are going to duel right now?" I asked.

"That is correct." A new, gravelly voice spoke up from behind us. I turned to see who it was, but I didn't recognize him. He had dark gray hair and was wearing a suit and sunglasses, even though we were inside. "Welcome everyone. I'm Croquet, chief tournament liaison. Finalists, congratulations on making it this far. Pegasus is quite taken with all of your dueling talents. In fact, he's so impressed he wanted to reward you with some entertainment - a special exhibition match. I think you'll all be quite in awe of what you're about to see. This match should give you an idea of what's in store for all of you."

"So basically," Mai started. "It's meant to intimidate us, huh?"

"Seems like it," I reply. _So Pegasus is trying to use Kaiba as an example to scare everyone... And just when I think he couldn't possible get any more monstrous..._

"Why would Pegasus do something like that?" Croquet answered a little too innocently.

"'Cause he's a grade-A nut case." Joey said simply.

Croquet ignored that comment and went on. "Enjoy the match." Then he walked back in the direction he'd come from.

I looked back over the railing.

"This should be interesting..." Yuugi murmured.

I frowned, thinking that 'interesting' wasn't the word I would've used. 'Stressful,' maybe, or 'worrisome,' but not interesting.

The wall across the bridge from Kaiba slid open like elevator doors, revealing Pegasus standing behind them, flanked by two suited men, as smug as ever.

Instantly, Kaiba yelled, "Where's my brother?"

"What?" Pegasus replied, walking forward. "No 'hello?' No, 'how are you?' I thought we were friends, Kaiba-boy. Don't tell me that my kidnapping Mokuba and seizing control of your company has put a rift between us." Pegasus stopped about ten feet from Kaiba. "It was nothing personal. Besides, it's not like I hurt your kid brother. He's perfectly safe. In fact, you can have him back if you like. Just beat my in a duel, like we agreed, and I'll hand him over." He smirked. "I mean one little victory shouldn't be a problem for the Duel Monsters World Champ."

Every single word that he'd just said made me want to punch him.

Kaiba didn't respond, he just glared at Pegasus suspiciously.

"Come now, Kaiba. It's so gauche to keep us in suspense, especially with an audience waiting in the wings." Pegasus said, looking up at us.

"What?" Kaiba looked at us too, surprised.

"Well, I hope you're ready, Kaiba," Pegasus began before Kaiba could say more. "I've been looking forward to this duel for quite some time."

Kaiba knelt down and opened his briefcase, taking one of the duel disks out and throwing it at Pegasus. "Good, then you'll have no problem dueling with this."

Pegasus just examined it, confused. "You want to duel me with your latest contraption?" He waved it around. "But I don't even know how the silly device works. Do I spin it like a top, or roll it like a ball?" On the second part of his sentence, he rolled it on its side past his bodyguards, who had to chase after it.

"Cut the theatrics!" Kaiba shouted.

Pegasus turned back around. "Oo, Kaiba means business!" He taunted. "Okay, then, how about we settle this like businessmen would? I'll agree to use your system if you agree to a request that I have."

"What?"

"Nothing that will change the game, of course. I just want someone else to operate your little device for me."

_Why would he want that...? _I wonder, starting to worry even more.

"I assure you," Pegasus continued, "I'll still make all the strategic decisions. The game play won't change at all."

"So why the request?" Kaiba snapped. "Why not fight your own battle for once in your life?"

Pegasus ignored that and clapped his hands twice, speaking to his bodyguards. "Show Kaiba the lad who will play as my pawn, and he'll understand my request."

The after a short pause, the doors behind Pegasus opened again. Standing there was Mokuba with a shackle around his left wrist, another of Pegasus' minions holding the end of the chain connected to it.

I gasped. "Pegasus wouldn't..." I whispered.

Kaiba's eyes shot wide, and he yelled, "Mokuba!"

Mokuba didn't respond; he just stared back blankly.

Kaiba's eyebrows pulled together. "It's me."

Pegasus motioned for Mokuba to be brought forward. "I apologize if he doesn't seem quite like himself, but I happen to find that the captives I keep are far easier to manage after I've made an extraction of sorts."

"You monster!" Kaiba shouted.

"Now, now, Kaiba-boy." Pegasus held up a card. "Petty insults aren't the way to get your brother's soul back."

The picture on the card was Mokuba.

I felt nauseous.

"I told you," Pegasus continued, "that your brother was perfectly safe, and he is. But how long he remains this way is up to you. Beat me in a duel, and I'll release him as promised. But fail and not only will his soul remain in bondage, but yours will join it. So to save your brother, you'll have to defeat me."

"Defeat you?!" Kaiba snarled. "I'll _crush_ you!"

"So it's settled." Pegasus replies, unfazed. "We'll use you new invention, but your brother will operate it for me."

One of Pegasus' minions handed the duel disk to Mokuba, and he took it, though I doubted there was any conscious effort to it.

"Wait!" Kaiba shouted.

"What's the matter, Kaiba-boy?" Pegasus smiled sickeningly. "This was _your_ idea. Using your own system is sure to give you quite the advantage. What's the problem?"

Kaiba looked down. "He's been through enough already... Okay, then, Pegasus. You win. We won't use it." He glared back up at Pegasus. "We'll duel on your terms. Just keep my little brother out of this."

"Fine by me. Take him away." Pegasus said in a smug tone. His minion led Mokuba out of the room.

My heart clenched as I watched Mokuba leave. Now Kaiba had lost his advantage by agreeing to not use the duel disks. Just by bringing Mokuba into this, Pegasus had given himself an advantage. That was low, even for him.

"You creep." Kaiba growled.

"Watch yourself, Kaiba. You're in my world now." Pegasus snapped his fingers, and the bridge split horizontally, sliding back into the wall on either side. Up above, a dueling arena started lowering itself into the space that was being made between Kaiba and Pegasus, settling right in front of them.

"This should be good..." Mai murmured. "The two biggest legends in Duel Monsters going at it? This is what it's all about."

"Yeah, if you completely ignored everything that just happened..." I muttered, but she didn't pay attention to me.

Hologram projectors pop up from either side of the arena, and the Life Point counters set to 2000.

"Ready, Kaiba?" Pegasus smirked. "Your brother's fate hangs in the balance."

_Like anyone could forget... _I thought, as Kaiba put his deck onto his playing field. _This decides much more than just who was a better duelist: the champion or the creator._

_This decided not just the fate of Mokuba's soul, but probably the fate of Kaiba's as well._

_xxx_

"Pegasus," Kaiba began, "Your underhanded dueling tactics have gone on long enough. It's time to put a stop to your cheating ways." He stacked his hand together and slammed it on the podium. "I may not know exactly how you're cheating, but somehow you can see my cards. So, I'm abandoning my present hand. Perhaps if I can't see what I'm playing, you can't either."

I took in a deep breath. _This is risky, but what else can he do...? Now he's going to need to really trust in his deck, more than ever..._

The current field looked like this: On Pegasus' side of the field, there was a Toon World and a Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon. Kaiba's field was empty. Whatever card he drew would be the only card he'd have on the field.

Kaiba went to draw his card, and said, "I've put all my faith in this next card, so now let it be revealed!" He took the card straight from the deck and slammed it on the field. The monster card zone lit up, and a Blue-Eyes White Dragon rose from the space.

I smiled hugely. "Alright!"

"Pegasus," Kaiba snarled, "Your card prophesying has failed you! And now your Toon Dragon will fail you as well!"

"Wow," Joey started, "I've never seen a monster go up against a wigged-out version of itself before..."

"Oh, this is going to be such fun!" Pegasus smirked, completely at ease. "A Blue-Eyes attacking his Toon counterpart? There's no end to the zany antics that could ensue from this."

"Wrong." Kaiba growled. "This isn't one of your hare-brained after-school cartoons! Your Toon won't escape this!" He yelled.

"Oh, no." Pegasus didn't even pretend to be seriously worried, even chuckling a little bit.

"Blue-Eyes, attack! Burst Stream!" Kaiba shouted.

The dragon opened its mouth and light shot out, but instead of colliding with the Toon as we expected, the caricature stretched out of the way, cleanly avoiding the blast.

"No way!" Kaiba snarled.

"What was that?" Joey gasped.

I growled, "That's a load of bullshit!"

"You should've watched more cartoons, Kaiba!" Pegasus said. "The cuddliest creature never, ever gets hit. In 3013 episodes of 'Funny Bunny,' Ruff Gruff McDogg never laid a paw on our cuddly hero. No, he would try and try, but never would he succeed. Such a clever little rabbit! And my creatures will employ the same cleverness everytime you attack. Because as long as Toon World is out, everything I throw will be just as hard to pin down as my Toon Dragon! Now, where were we? Ah yes, it was my turn." He drew a card and said, "I'll play this. A new addition to Toon World; The Shine Palace!" The storybook opened to a different page, revealing a silver and white castle, as opposed to the previous black one. "It makes for quite a handy plot twist. You see, the Shine Palace raises my Toon Dragon's attack my 500 points!" He paused dramatically, then shouted, "Blue-Eyes Toon Dragon, attack!" The light burst from the creature's mouth.

"Not so fast, I activate my trap card!" Kaiba yelled. "Negate Attack!" The blast grew smaller until it disappeared outright, right in front of Kaiba's Blue-Eyes. "My turn now." His hand hesitated over his deck.

_"_C'mon, don't back down now…" I muttered.

Kaiba gritted his teeth and reached for the card. His eyes lit up and he shouted, "I play the magic card Shadow Spell!" Chains shot down from all around the Toon Dragon and tied it up. "Now, not only can your Toon not move, but its attack power is lowered by 700 points!" Its attack fell to 2800. "Looks like Toons don't always get the last laugh. Blue-Eyes, Burst Stream of Destruction!"

This time, when the beam of light shot at the Toon, it struggled but couldn't get away. The attack ripped through it, dropping Pegasus' Life Points to 1200.

"Now do you understand that nothing will stop me rescuing my brother, Pegasus?" Kaiba snarled. "Not even destroying my own Blue-Eyes."

"Dawww, Kaiba-boy," Pegasus taunted. "Your treasured Blue-Eyes White Dragons mean so very much to you, don't they? Well, as creator of Duel Monsters, I'm truly touched by your devotion. But," He drew a card, "when will you learn that the same devotion is not returned by the Blue-Eyes? For as you see," He slapped a card down in the back row, "They are not so loyal! Go, Dragon Capture Jar! This will make two Blue-Eyes I've stolen from you, won't it?"

The dragon on the field was sucked into the jar, sealed away.

"Damn you..." Kaiba muttered.

"Now all of your Dragon's defense points have been transferred to my jar where they'll be at my disposal."

Kaiba drew his next card. "I'm playing this in defense mode." A square in the monster card zone lit up.

"Then for my turn," Pegasus started. "I'll place this magic card facedown, and bring out the Dragon Piper!"

"Damn, he can call Kaiba's stolen Blue-Eyes out..." I muttered.

"Soon, I will make your creature Blue-Eyes a Toon just like the other!" Pegasus grinned. "And then the fun will begin all over again."

"No way." Kaiba growled. "Not if I can shatter that Dragon Piper right here!" He flipped his monster card to face up attack position. "Swordstalker! Now attack the Dragon Piper!" The creature lunged forward.

"Did you forget about the magic card I just placed?" Pegasus asked. "Didja? Its a little doodad called Doppelganger. It can copy anything on the field. I think I'll have it copy your Crush Card! And now, I'll infect my Dragon Piper with it!"

It was too late to call off the Swordstalker's attack, so it charged right into it, releasing the virus.

"That's what you get, Kaiba-boy, when you stack your deck with monsters that all have over 1500 attack points!"

"All of my cards..." Kaiba muttered. "Gone." He drew one from the top. "This is the only one the virus wouldn't have infected..." He placed it on the field. "I'll use Monster Reborn to revive Saagi the Dark Clown." He looked down and murmured. "Mokuba, I've done my very best..."

My heart clenched as Pegasus laughed. "Well your best failed you! Bickuribox, emerge and attack!" The creature leapt out of Toon World and slashed Kaiba's monster into thirds before retreating into the book.

"There are no more cards you can play." Pegasus stated. "Therefore, you lose, Kaiba-boy." The holograms faded as he spoke. "And you've lost much more than just this duel, haven't you, Kaiba? You've lost the only chance you had at rescuing your baby brother. You let him down. But don't worry, my dear friend. I will spare you the agony of carrying on in this world without him." He pulled a card out of his coat pocket that looked just like the one Mokuba's soul was trapped in, only this one was blank.

"What is that?" Kaiba gasped.

"It is the final fate of your soul, Seto Kaiba!" Light burst out of Pegasus' Millennium Eye, making it too bright to see anything, and I had to cover my eyes. It lasted about five seconds, and when the light receded Kaiba was staring down blankly, his eyes as empty as Mokuba's had been. "And while your soul is away, your body will be employed as my obedient servant." He snapped his fingers at his minions. "Take away that empty shell. Teach it to do dishes or something."

I watched, horrified, as two suited guys walked up and dragged Kaiba off through the hallway behind him.

"Okay. Tell me I didn't just see what I think I saw." Joey spoke.

It started to sound like there was a glass wall between me and the rest of the world as my focus slipped. The gloom settled in and coherent thoughts refused to form as I tried to explain to myself what had just happened.

It seemed the closer Yuugi got to dueling Pegasus, the more counter-productive everything became.


	7. Chapter 7: An Adventure And A Half

**Hey y'all! So, chapter 7. WOO!**

**I'm kinda sad, there are a bunch of people reading version two, but nobody is reading this version! I knooooooooooooow Duelist Kingdom is boring, BUT THIS IS THE LAST CHAPTER FOR DUELIST KINGDOM! I actually RECOMMEND people to skim over Duelist Kingdom. The only thing anyone REALLY needs to note is the transition of Mara attitude to each character. **

**For anyone who is sticking with this and reading (I don't know if there's any of you...), thank you. But I'd like a pick me up, so maybe some reviews? I'd REALLY REALLY REALLY appreciate it...**

* * *

After the duel, I skipped out on dinner (due to feeling nauseous) in favor of finding my room and going straight to sleep. I'll be the first to admit it, I was moping. I didn't even speak with anyone until the next morning.

The next few days weren't too exciting for me. Yuugi and Joey both dueled different opponents, and won. It was a more serious affair when Yuugi and Joey had to duel. It was obviously a hard thing for them both to do, but they powered through it, and Yuugi was the victor.

Now it was coming down to the final duel: Yuugi versus Pegasus. This was the duel that decided if everything that we'd gone through was worth it. If Yuugi lost, then not only did Pegasus get to keep Gramps' soul, but Kaiba and Mokuba's as well. Just thinking about the stakes made me sick to my stomach.  
But, I believed Yuugi could win. After all that had been done, and all the duels he'd won, I honestly believed Yuugi could beat Pegasus. But even then, there's always that tiny doubt in the back of your head to make you worry.

Now I was standing with Téa, Joey, Tristan, and Bakura in the room with the Dueling Arena, waiting for Yuugi to make appearance. We all agreed to show up early and wish him luck.

When he walked in to the room, Téa said, "Surprise!"

"Hey guys!" Yuugi grinned. "What're you doing?"

"We wanted to wish you well!" Tristan said.

"Aw thanks, guys. You're the best."

From across the room on the other balcony, Croquet spoke. "The time has come." He announced. "Would Yuugi Muto, the challenger, please enter the duel ring. Mr. Pegasus awaits you."

"Got get 'em, Yuug!" Joey encouraged.

I added, "Yeah, kick his butt!"

Yuugi nodded and headed off down the hall to our left, eventually reappearing from the hallway leading to the Duel Arena.

Croquet spoke, "The challenger has entered the stadium. And now, for your dueling pleasure, Castle Pegasus is proud to present, the creator of Duel Monsters and all it's wondrous cards, the undefeated Maximilion Pegasus!"

Pegasus walked in to his side of the arena. "So, Yuugi-boy," He started as he approached the console, "You've turned out to be quite the young duelist, battling your way past all the other challengers, winning your way into the castle just to face me."

"Before we begin the duel," Yuugi said, "I want you to agree to keep your promise. That if I defeat you, you'll release my grandfather's soul to me."

"But of course! I'm a man of my word."

"But that's not it. You must also free the souls of Seto and Mokuba Kaiba."

_Good, he remembered..._ I sighed internally. When he didn't mention it before, I was afraid he'd forgotten about them.

"What a strange demand..." Pegasus mused. "I thought you hated Kaiba as much as you hate me, Yuugi!"

"Maybe I need to keep a vow of my own, Pegasus."

There was probably barely an moment of silence before Pegasus replied. "Ah, I see. A vow to Mokuba."

_Ugh, Pegasus must be reading his mind... that's so creepy..._

"D'okay, Yuugi-boy," Pegasus continued, "Put your mind at ease. I agree to your terms." He held up the three soul cards. "If you win, I shall free these three from their lonely prison."

The two started drawing their cards, and Téa said, "Hey guys, let's go get a better view from the upper balcony!"

Joey nodded, "Good idea." They started walking off, but Tristan and Bakura stayed where they were. I waited too.

Bakura sighed. "Guess there's nothing we can do but wait for the duel to play out. Pegasus holds all the card right now."

"Hm? What do you mean?" I asked.

"Well as long as he holds his prisoners, we're going to be at his mercy, no matter what the outcome of the game."

"Right." Tristan nodded. He ran past us in the opposite direction of Téa and Joey.

"Wait, where are you going?" I asked him.

He stopped and turned back. "I'm gonna see if I can find Kaiba or Mokuba anywhere. if I can get them back even without their souls, Pegasus won't hold all the cards."

I looked at Bakura, then back at Tristan, "Well, I'm coming too!" I told him.

He nodded, "Alright. Let's go!" He started off again, and I followed, leaving a still slightly confused Bakura behind.

Tristan and I somehow made our way into the castle's dungeon, which was the most likely area that Mokuba and Kaiba would be kept. We explored the corridors, but for the longest time, we found nobody.

"What have we gotten ourselves into...?" Tristan muttered as we wandered. "This castle is humongous, and there's no sign of Kaiba or Mokuba or anyone down here."

"Maybe there is no one down here..." I murmured.

There was a noise around the courner at the end of the hall that sounded like footsteps. They were getting closer.

"I spoke too soon." He said.

"Crap, where do we hide?!" I whimpered.

"I dunno, I dunno!" He whispered back.

After stumbling over myself for a couple seconds, I ran one hallway past where we were and turned into the first courner I came to. I skidded to a halt, peaking back around the wall. Tristan was gone, and the guy walking down the hall turned the hallway after the one I was hiding in.

"Time to change shifts." I heard him say. "How is the little twerp?"

Another voice came in. "The same as ever - glassy-eyed and glum. You don't have to worry about him runnin' off."

I gasped quietly. _Could it be Mokuba...?_

"Of course not." The first guy replied. "But you know, we still have to be careful. He's Pegasus' pet prisoner."

"Pet, schmet. I'm outta here."

"Right."

A different guy left the hallway and turned back towards my direction. I ducked back in the hallway and held my breath until he passed. When I looked back around the courner, the metal armour that was standing there for decoration was moving on its own.

"Eep!" I covered my mouth.

A "Shush, Mara!" came from the armour.

"T-Tristan?" I whispered. "Dammit, don't scare me like that!" I walked towards him. "How'd you even get in there so fast?"

"Don't ask." He walked to the hall where the guards had been and peaked around the courner. "He's... gone?"

"What?" I hurried over and looked too. "But where could he have vanished to?" The hallway continued for about ten feet, then stopped there. There was a dragon statue on the wall.

"This is a dead end..." Tristan muttered. He walked forward a few steps, then tripped on a misplaced stone and started to fall forward. He caught onto the dragon's head, and it shifted down. Suddenly, the right wall was rumbling.

"Tristan, what did you do?!" I gasped.

He glared back at me. "It wasn't on purpose! This armour is heavy!"

Part of the wall started lifting, revealing a new hallway. It stopped when it made a full doorway, and I walked over to it, looking down into the darkness.

Glancing back at Tristan, I said, "Let's go!"

He picked himself up and led the way down the stairs, "With how they tried to hide this, there's gotta be something down here..."

When we reached its base, Tristan peaked around the courner.

"What do you see?" I whispered.

"Just a guy sitting at a desk... but there's a jail cell looking thing behind him. I can't see if anyone's inside though..."

"If they're guarding it, it's probably either Kaiba or Mokuba."

"Awright, I'm going in..." He grabbed a helmet off of a nearby suit of armour and started tiptoeing toward the guard.

"Tristan!" I hissed, but he continued away. I face-palmed. _We're doomed.  
_

I heard a loud clang. I looked up and saw Tristan, still in the suit of armour, standing over the knocked-out guard.

He looked back at me, lifted the eye-cover of the helmet, and said, "And the victory goes to Sir Tristan!" With a big goofy grin.

I walked over, shaking my head. "Well. Not exactly graceful, but hey. It worked." I hurried past him to the cell and looked past the darkness inside. Sitting there was Mokuba. "Tristan!" I spun around to face him. "It's Mokuba! We found Mokuba!"

"Really? Lemme see if this guy has a key..." He started looking around.

"Hurry!"

"I'm trying... Ah-ha!" He leaned down by the guard and picked a key ring up from the floor. "Found something!" He hurried over to the cell. The lock needed a key card, so he picked it out from the ring and put it in the reader. We heard the lock pop open.

"Yes!" I cheered, and Tristan hurried inside. I rolled my eyes. "Tristan?"

He looked back at me. "What?"

"You should probably take off the armour now, yes?"

"Oh! Yeah, probably." He started ripping the armour off piece by piece. When it was all off, he picked up Mokuba and carried him piggyback style.

"Alright, let's go!" I hurried back towards the stairs, assured by his footsteps that Tristan was following. However, when I reached the stairwell, it was closed off. "Dammit, Tristan, look!"

He scowled. "They must be onto us... Let's go this way." He started off in the opposite direction of the cell, and I had no choice but to follow.

We kept hitting dead ends. Every time it seemed like we might be making progress, we weren't. Finally, after twenty minutes of searching with no direction, Tristan stopped. "Ugh, this way is no good, either..."

A voice echoed through the corridors behind us. "Over here!"

Tristan and I spun around and saw shadows stirring around the courner.

"Well shit..." I whispered.

"This way!" Tristan started back the way we came, but took a left that we'd skipped. I ran after him, trying to keep up.

"Look! They've got Mokuba!" I heard someone yell from behind us.

"Faster, Tristan!" I yelled at him, but someone ran out from the courner ahead of us.

"Hold it right there!" They yelled.

We were forced to stop. I stood back to back with Tristan, trying to find a way out.

"No place left to run," The guy behind us said. "You're surrounded."

The second guy stepped forward. "Now hand the kid over, tough guy."

"No," Tristan stood his ground. "Come and get him."

"Dammit..." I murmured.

I heard a dark chuckle. "Lay one hand on the boy and you will rue the day you imbeciles were ever born." The voice said.

We all looked around for its source, and one of the suits said, "Who's there?!" There was a hallway a little behind him to his left, and Bakura stepped out. The suit continued, "You just walked into a world of trouble, kid."

"Bakura?" I gasped. _That voice didn't sound like Bakura's... It sounded like..._

"Hey, get out of here!" Tristan tried to tell him. "Run for it!"

"Step out of those shadows, or else!" The guy closest to him threatened.

"Or else you'll do what," Bakura's expression darkened, "you pathetic little drones?"

"We warned you!"

"Yes, and now I am warning you." Bakura stated, holding up a Duel Monsters card. "Don't trifle with me!"

_Chain Energy...?_ I thought. _What's he going to do with that?_

"What's that?" The suit growled.

"Chain Energy!" Bakura yelled, as an answer and as an order, holding the card into the air. It lit up, and with a flash of blinding light, the guards where tied up in see-through vine-looking bonds.

"What the hell?!" The guard gasped.

"What did you just do?!" I shouted to Bakura.

He didn't answer my question. Instead, he said, "Come, now is our chance to escape." He put the card away and turned to run.

"Okay, wait up!" Tristan followed, and I chased after him.

We followed Bakura back down the passage that he'd come from. I think Bakura had planned to lead us back the way we came, but we ended up in a tower with stairs and doors everywhere. As we climbed one of the staircases, Tristan decided to speak.

"Bakura, what was it you did back there - using that magic card, but for real?"

"Not now." He said. "Those guards are still behind us."

"So whatever you did," I asked, "didn't last long?"

"No." He replied simply.

"Fine." Tristan said. "But something's up with you, and you're gonna tell me what."

_I'm glad I'm not the only one who noticed..._ I thought.

Tristan tugged at the door handle to the right at the top of the staircase, but it didn't budge. "It's a no-go. This door is locked."

"Dammit..." I growled, starting to get aggravated.

Tristan turned left, "Come on!" He started running up the stairs that continued to spiral along the outer walls of the room. Bakura and I followed.

We ran up staircase after staircase, trying door after door, and finally at the top, there was an open doorway with daylight pouring through.

"A way out!" Tristan cheered. He ran right through it, but behind it was just a small platform with no railing. He skidded to a halt, but started losing his balance over the edge.

I was in the back of the group, so I just yelled, "Bakura, catch him!"

Bakura was able to snatch the very end of Tristan's coat and pull him back from the edge.

Tristan landed back safely on the ground, and after catching his breath, he said,"Man, I owe you one." He leaned back. "Well, seeing as how jumping is out of the question, I'd say we're good as caught..."

As he spoke the words, we heard someone inside yell, "There they are! Come on!" Accompanied by the sound of many running feet.

"Dammit, we're as good as _dead_..." I muttered.

"Well, we tried..." Tristan said, standing up.

"What do you mean, we tried?" Bakura scoffed. "We are not captured just yet."

"What are you talking about? We're totally outnumbered."

"We won't be after I enlist some help from the Shadow Realm."

_Shadow Realm?!_ It clicked. T_his must be that evil Bakura... But I thought Yuugi got rid of him..._ I involuntarily took a step away from Bakura. How much safer were we with this evil Bakura than in the hands of Pegasus' minions?

"This can't be good." Tristan muttered as Bakura pulled something from his pocket.

The guards all stopped at the bottom of the stairs. One yelled, "It's all over! Give us back our prisoner now, and we might let you live."  
Bakura chuckled darkly. "You ignorant mortals. It's far from all over. We have barely even begun to play. I'll show you the cards fate has dealt you." He held up his deck.

Tristan looked at me and whispered, "What's up with Bakura?"

"Well, do you remember that night when Bakura showed up to our campsite, and he and Yuugi dueled? It got out of hand, and there was a crazy duel in the Shadow Realm." I whispered back, trying not to let Bakura hear.

"Wait, you mean that wasn't a dream?"

"No, that really happened. And I think this Bakura is the evil Bakura that took us all to the Shadow Realm..."

Before Tristan could respond, Bakura spoke, threatening the guards. "Now I'll teach you the true meaning of fear, as I summon the Man-Eater Bug!"

"What...?" I watched in horror as the creature actually emerged from his card.

"Now, you mortal fools," Bakura continued, "Prepare to meet your doom!"

The monster started down the stairs and jumped onto the guards. I looked away and tried to ignore the nausea that was building in my stomach. "Holy shit..."

"Present-day humans are so fun to terrorize, don't you think?" Bakura said.

"No, I don't." Tristan muttered, staring down the stairs. "But then again, I am a present-day human." He glared at Bakura. "What the hell are you?"

Bakura chuckled, still facing away from us. "Me? Someone with great power, soon to be greater. But I can't spend the day having fun, I have things to do." He pulled another card from his deck. "So I'll summon the Morphing Jar to this plane and put an end to their pathetic whining."

I refused to look back to the stairwell and focused on the forest below us.

"The Jar's magic," Bakura continued, "will send these ridiculous thugs to the graveyard."

_Graveyard...? What does he mean...?_

The room was suddenly eerily silent, and Bakura started walking back down the stairs. Tristan went ahead of me, and I followed him shakily. At the base of the first stair set, the guards were gone, but there were still a couple pairs of sunglasses left behind.

"As you can see," "Bakura" said, "there's not a single particle of those pathetic fools left in this dimension. I have no patience for obstacles that get in my way. Remember that."

"They were just... obstacles to you...?" I whispered.

"I don't know how you did that," Tristan started shakily, "and I probably don't want to. Just tell me who you are, what you want. I know you're not our friend Bakura. You're the one Yuugi beat in that duel. He banished you, and in the process, he freed Bakura from your mind control."

"Yes, but that wouldn't have happened if Bakura hadn't betrayed me. I've decided I need a new host." He turned around to face Tristan. I shivered at the glower on his face.

"You won't take me without a fight." Tristan growled.

"Not you. I want a vessel without a mind or soul of its own."

There was a short pause. Then it sunk in, apparently at the same time as it did for Tristan, because he muttered, "You want Mokuba..."

"Now turn him over, or face the same fate as those guards."

I felt the anger build up in my chest, and I growled, "You can't have him!"

Tristan nodded. "Forget it, no way."

"Bakura" chuckled evilly. "You know that I have the power to back up my threats. Hand him over this instant, or I'll dispatch both of you to the graveyard, too."

Tristan looked down, hesitated, then said, "Alright, I give up. You can have him."

"Tristan!" I gasped. "What the hell are you doing?!"

Tristan pulled Mokuba off his back and acted like he was going to give him to "Bakura," but as soon as "Bakura" let his guard down, Tristan lunged at him and went for a knockout shot. "Bakura" fell to the ground, unconscious, and Tristan turned to me, holding out Mokuba. "Can you hold him a sec?"

I nodded and took Mokuba, then looked back at Tristan. "I thought you were serious. I was about to knock _you_ out." I said, only half-joking.

Tristan went over to Bakura and took the Millennium Ring off his neck, then hurried up the one flight of stairs. After a few moments, he came back without the necklace. "Now let's hope that thing is gone for good."

"What did you do?"

"I chucked that thing out into the forest as far as I could throw." He looked at Bakura, still on the floor. "Well, uh... Do ya think you can carry Mokuba back? It'd be easier to not have to carry them both."

I nodded, then slung Mokuba onto my back piggyback-style. "Of course. Let's just hope we can find our way out..."

Tristan picked up Bakura and slung him over his shoulder. "Alright, let's go."

xxx

"This is starting to look familiar." I said, glancing around me.

"Yeah, the walls aren't stone anymore." Tristan noted.

We managed to find our way into the habitable part of the castle instead of its dungeon. The walls were the sickly pink colour again.

"Hey, look!" I exclaimed. The hallway opened up to an extremely familiar room, and, looking over the railing, was Téa and Joey. Our movement caught their eyes, and they both looked over.

Téa gasped. "Tristan, Mara, where have you guys been?!"

"You wouldn't believe it. We've had an adventure and a half today." Tristan said. He set Bakura down on the floor, leaning him against the railing. I knelt down to put Mokuba next to Bakura.

"What happened to those two?" Téa asked.

"Well, you already know what happened to Mokuba..." I told her. "We rescued him from a cell in a dungeon."

"And that evil spirit took over Bakura again." Tristan added. "And even though I got rid of it..." He looked up over the rail. "Huh?" He stood up straight. "What's going on here?"

"You first." Joey spoke for the first time.

"Well we freed Mokuba, but Bakura tried to take him."

"What did he want with Mokuba? Details, man!"

I stood up and said. "He wanted Mokuba for his new host body."

"What?" Téa gasped.

"Don't worry, I handled it." He looked back over the railing. "But that's history. What's the deal with the indoor thunderstorm?"

Confused, I looked over the rail for the first time and gasped. "Whoa..." There was a huge swirling mass of blue, purple, and black clouds where the Dueling Arena was supposed to be.

"We don't know..." Téa answered.

Tristan looked back at Bakura and Mokuba. "These two should be alright here for now. Let's go down and check it out."

"Good idea." Joey said.

"I'll stay here, guys." I told them. "I don't want to just leave them alone."

"You sure?" Joey asked.

"Of course! Go on, I'll be right here."

"If you say so."

Tristan, Téa, and Joey ran past me and down the hall at the end of the balcony. I stood there alone for a couple minutes, then I saw the three of them appear on the bridge that led to the Arena... or more that led to the swirling mass of clouds. I could see that they were talking, but I couldn't hear what they were saying.

I sighed and sat down cross-legged next to Mokuba, looking through the bars of the railing, down at the clouds. What was going on?

_This might take longer than I thought..._

_xxx_

"How long can this go on...?" I mumbled. "You'd think someone would've gone through all their cards by now, or something... Ugh, and I have no idea who's _winning_..." I complained as if someone were listening. Both Mokuba and Bakura were still unconscious, and Joey, Téa, and Tristan stayed down by the clouds.

I sighed heavily, closing my eyes, but when I opened them up again, the clouds were fading. The Arena was coming back into view. I gasped and stood up, searching for any sign as to who won the duel. I squinted to see the Life Point counters. Pegasus' read zero, and Yuugi's were at 100.

I laughed. "Yes!"

I heard an incoherent mumble to my right, and I looked down. Bakura stirred slightly, and his eyes started to open.

I hesitated, wondering if this was good Bakura, or evil spirit Bakura. Well, if Tristan threw that necklace away... "Bakura?"

He squinted up at me, as if the lights were super bright. "Mara? Where am I?"

I smiled, noting that his voice was normal again. "You're in the big dueling room. Yuugi just won against Pegasus a second ago!"

"Really?" He turned around to look through the poles of the railing.

I turned to face the Dueling Arena and yelled, "Hey, guys!" Everyone looked up at me. "Bakura woke up!"

As I spoke, Bakura picked himself off the ground and waved.

"Feeling back to normal?" Tristan shouted at him.

Bakura put his arm down. "What? Back to normal? Have I not been normal, Tristan?"

"Yeah, that ring you wear around your neck was making you act like a real freak again!"

I sweat-dropped. _Smooth._

"Freak? Oh my..."

"Sorry, Bakura," I started, and he turns to me. "We had to get rid of your Millennium Ring. That was what was making you act weird."

"Well, I guess if that was the reason, then it's for the best..."

"Hey!" Téa called up to us. "Can one of you stay and watch Mokuba for us?"

I shrugged as consent, and Bakura said, "I can stay."

"I guess we'll both stay then." I called back down. I really didn't want to leave Mokuba. Not only in case he woke up, but I was also a little worried about that evil spirit still...

"Thanks!" Yuugi answered. The four of them ran out of the room.

I sat back down on the ground, settled in for a wait, and looked back up at Bakura. "Well, don't stand there all awkward. Might as well get comfortable." I leaned back against the railing.

There was an odd, out of place silence, then Bakura turned away and walked off.

I sat up. "Bakura?! Where are you going?"

He ignored me and continued down the hall, until he was gone.

An uncomfortable shiver ran through me as I stared after him. _That was weird. Why did he do that? Maybe..._

I shook the thought from my head and said to myself out loud, "No, Tristan got rid of that ring, and the evil spirit."

Suddenly, Mokuba stirred and my eyes zeroed in on him. "Mokuba?" No response. "Mokuba, can you hear me?" Still silence. I rolled my eyes at myself and leaned back against the railing.

A few minutes, Bakura came back into the room. I tensed, but didn't allow myself to jump to conclusions.

"Hey, Bakura...? You feeling alright?" I asked cautiously.

He stopped about five feet away from me and looked at me. "Of course, why wouldn't I be?"

_He sounds like himself..._ I thought. _But how do I know if it's really him or not...?_ "I dunno, forget I asked..."

There was awkward silence for some time before Mokuba stirred again. I rolled to my knees and faced him. His eyes slowly opened, and he looked up, focusing on me. "Mara?"

I smiled. "Hey, kiddo! How do you feel?"

I could tell his brain was shaking off the cobwebs still, because he didn't answer instantly. Before he had the chance, we heard footsteps coming from the hallway. I looked up and saw Joey, Téa, Tristan, and Yuugi running our way. "Hey guys!" I called. "Mokuba's up!"

They stopped by us. "Wow," Tristan spoke. "Who woulda thought Pegasus would keep his word?"

Yuugi walked a little closer. "So Mokuba, how are you feeling? Ready to get off this island?"

"Not without Seto." He said. "Where's my big brother?"

_We couldn't find him..._ I thought to myself, but not wanting to scare him, I said, "He's somewhere around here, Mokuba. We'll find him!"

"Mr. Muto, Mr. Wheeler." A familiar voice said. I turned to see Croquet. "Due to his illness, Mr. Pegasus will be unable to attend."

There was a short pause. Joey said, "If you ask me, it's just a lame excuse to avoid paying off on the prizes."

_Pegasus is sick...?_ I wondered. _That was sudden._

"All prizes are still to be awarded. Yuugi has already received his agreed upon reward of three freed souls. But, in addition, there's this." Croquet stepped up to Yuugi, holding out a box. I couldn't see what was in it from my spot on the floor.

"What is it?" Yuugi asked.

"It's a card called The Ties of Friendship. It's the only one of its kind, hand-painted by Pegasus himself."

Yuugi took the card from the box.

"I was instructed to deliver it directly to Yuugi Muto. You are now officially King of Games." Croquet pulled an envelope out of his jacket. "This contains a check for the prize money, won by Yuugi in his duel with Joey Wheeler."

Yuugi looked up at Joey. "It's all yours, just like I promised."

Joey took the check from Croquet. "You're the best, Yuug."

"Now," Croquet concluded, "We'd like you all to leave." He walked away.

"Well," I said, getting to my feet, "There's nothing left to do now but find Kaiba and go home."

Yuugi nodded. "Let's go."

I helped Mokuba to his feet. He seemed a little wobbly, but quickly found his footing.

We all hurried out of the castle, wanting to leave, but on the way, there was no sign of Kaiba anywhere. Mokuba called for him as we walked along, even as we exited the castle to the courtyard.

"Seto! Big Brother! Where are you?" He called as we walked along.

"The castle's huge. Kaiba could be anywhere..." Yuugi murmured.

I frowned. _Poor Mokuba..._

The big door at the other end of the courtyard shuddered and started to open. We all looked over to see who would be on the other side. It was Kaiba.

Mokuba didn't hesitate to sprint for him, and the two met in the middle of the courtyard. Mokuba barreled straight into Kaiba, wrapping his arms around him, crying.  
My eyes welled up with tears too, but I didn't let them fall. I was just glad that this all was turning out as a happy ending.

Kaiba and Mokuba had their reunion, then Kaiba looked up at Yuugi. "Yuugi, I owe you for saving Mokuba." He said.

"How could I not have?" Yuugi replied.

"And I am grateful. But because of our circumstances, our last duel was not really conclusive. "

"Yes, you're right."

"One day we will meet in the arena again to decide which of us is truly the better duelist."

Yuugi nodded.

"C'mon, Mokuba, let's go, the helicopter's waiting." Kaiba started turning away.

I looked at Yuugi. "So, uh, how are we getting home?"

"Crap, that's right!" Joey gasped. "All the boats are gone!"

Mokuba looked at Kaiba. "Hey, Seto... Let's let them ride in the helicopter too!"

"What?" Kaiba whipped around to look at Mokuba.

"Please?"

Kaiba looked from Mokuba, to us, then back at Mokuba. He scowled. "Fine." He turned away and started walking.

"C'mon guys!" Mokuba called happily, and we all followed them back to Kaiba's helicopter.

When we reached it, Kaiba climbed to the front without a word, and we all filed in after Mokuba.

Joey, Tristan, Téa, Yuugi, Bakura all squished into the back bench, and I found room for myself on the floor as Kaiba started the helicopter. Mokuba looked back at us from the front, smiling, and said, "You guys better thank Seto for letting you come!"

Kaiba turned around, glaring, and shouted, "When we get back to Japan, we're even, got it?"

I couldn't help but grin at his sudden change in attitude. Though, I also couldn't stop smiling because we were finally going home. These last few days had felt like a lifetime, and I was glad to put this behind me.

Good-bye, Duelist Kingdom.

* * *

**I'M SO HAPPY DUELIST KINGDOM IS OVER! THANK GAWD!**

**And some cool news, zelos888 (the friend who's writing version 2 of this story) and I have made Facebooks for Mara and Ahura (her character). We also made pages for the other characters, so they'll be interacting in sync with the story as it progresses. If you want to friend them and ask them questions, you can! It'll be just a fun interactive thing that we can all do to make this even more! Just look up Mara Sasaki on FB, that's Mara. Ahura is Ahura Issa. All the pages will post on their Walls and they'll all interact, it's really cool. HAVE FUN WITH THAT, BUT DON'T FORGET TO READ THIS AND VERSION 2! ;D**

**version 2: s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2**


	8. Chapter 8: Odd Times

**Chapter 8! Sorry this one's a little shorter than normal, but because Legendary Heroes is so epic and awesome, I don't want to have to keep interrupting it because my chapter gets too long. Sooo this is kind of an intro to Legendary Heroes. I'M SO EXCITED TO FINALLY WRITE LEGENDARY HEROES!**

**Anyway, I have to send my gratitude to BooBear-chan23, because they reviewed and I want to thank them. So THANK YOU BooBear-chan23! I'm glad you're enjoying the story! :D**

* * *

When I got home after returning to Domino City, my parents wanted to hear all the details of the trip. I tried telling them as much as I could without mentioning the soul stealing, or the Shadow Realm, or the one night that I'd become a Duel Monster. The trip didn't seem as interesting.

After school ended on the first day since we got back, Yuugi, Joey, Tristan, Téa, and I went to Gramps' game shop It was meant to be a short little visit for me, just to say hi to Gramps, and then head home. But, the weather turned bad quick, and suddenly it was dumping rain. Five seconds couldn't pass without the thunder snarling outside. I called home from Yuugi's landline, telling my parents I wasn't coming straight home, and instead, I was going to try and wait out the storm.

It turned out to be a tedious thing. All we did was watch Joey buy cards from Gramps. We were standing at the counter, watching Joey shuffle through almost every card in the shop. I had long since lost my interest, and I was looking around the walls, inspecting the posters. It had already started to get dark, though the dark was mostly due to the cloud cover.

"I'll take it!" Joey concluded, after pondering on one card for five minutes. "Put it on my tab."

"Your tab is long past due, Joey." Gramps said.

"Then put it on Tristan's."

Tristan glared at him. "Hey!"

The bell on the door rang as it opened. I was the first to look and see who it was.

Imagine my surprise when I realized it was Mokuba, panting and soaking wet.

"Please help me..." He murmured.

I gasped and hurried over to him, leading him inside. "Mokuba, what happened?"

He started to try and explain, but we only got a few words at a time. None of it made any sense, as he tried to catch his breath.

"C'mon, let's get him upstairs." Yuugi said.

I led Mokuba upstairs and sat him on the couch while Yuugi ran off to go find a blanket for him. Téa set the kettle on the stove to make tea.

When Yuugi brought him the blanket, I sat down next to Mokuba. "Mokuba, what happened? Why were you out there running through the storm?"

He didn't hesitate to answer. "My brother was confronting the Big Five, the guys who teamed up with Pegasus to take over the company. When he said they were fired, they tried to defend themselves by saying that they weren't actually working for Pegasus, they were trying to protect the company by making Pegasus trust them. At first, neither of us believed them, but then they brought up the virtual game."

"What game?" I urged as Téa brought him the tea.

"It's a virtual reality game called the Virtua-Pod. The Big Five told Seto that they had it all ready to be sent out, that it was ready for market distribution. They just wanted him to confirm it was ready first. We went down to test it, and at first everything was fine. But then something went wrong. The Big Five had reprogrammed the game, designing it specifically to trap Seto inside, and now his mind is stuck in the game... I didn't know what else to do... I thought you guys could help..."

"Of course we'll help." I said, then looked around. Everyone nodded in agreement, so I turned back to Mokuba.

"We need to know more about this game." Yuugi said. "Can you explain it?"

"I don't know much. He started on it when I was really young. I remember him spending endless hours working on the prototypes, trying to make it perfect."

"Prototypes... So there are other ones?" I asked.

He nodded his head. "In his lab. It was my brother's dream to create the world's ultimate virtual adventure land, but those corporate jerks turned it into a nightmare..." Tears welled up in his eyes.

"Are the games all linked?" Yuugi asked.

"Yeah. They connect through the internet... Why?"

Yuugi jumped up. "Then we can used those pod prototypes to go to the virtual world and rescue Kaiba!"

I smiled and stood up too. "Then what are we waiting for? Let's go!"

Mokuba smiled. "Thanks guys."

Yuugi lead us downstairs, grabbing some umbrellas for everyone from a closet at the bottom. After some vague explaining to Yuugi's grandpa, we were all out the door into the rain, headed for the KaibaCorp building.

xxx

"This is my brother's personal laboratory." Mokuba said as he led us to a huge gate. "He doesn't like anyone messing around here, but I used to sneak in all the time." He grabbed one of the bars and started climbing. He hauled himself over the top and hopped down to the ground on the other side, hitting a switch by the gate. It swung open.

He motioned us to follow him, and he led us across the circle of buildings to the farthest edge.

"This is where Seto keeps his most secret stuff." Mokuba said, opening the door. We all followed. Inside, it was too dark to make out much of anything, so we just relied on Mokuba to know exactly where he was going.

Mokuba finally stopped at a door. We waited while it slid open. "Well, there they are." We stepped inside, and the lights turned on automatically.

The prototype Virtua-Pods were all set up around a big console in the center of the room. Their name fit them well. The outside was white and blue, while the inside was simply a lounge seat. There was a glass cover that would close when the game started, making it a literal game pod.

"So those are the prototypes?" I asked.

"Yup." Mokuba ran to the controls on the other side of the room. After hitting some buttons, a whirring sound started up inside the center console.

"Hm, only four pods..." Joey commented. "I guess someone's staying here." He grinned slyly. "I say Tristan."

Tristan glared. "And I say you!"

"I know I'm going." Mokuba said.

"Mokuba, you're the only one who knows how to work these things!" Joey said. "You should stay here."

"Yeah, but I also know the most about the virtual adventure land we're going into."

"Okay, but that means that two people still have to stay..." Tristan said.

"I'll stay." Téa offered. "I don't mind."

It got silent. Joey and Tristan looked at me.

"What? You expect me to stay?" I asked, irritated.

"Well I'm not staying." Joey said.

I glared at Tristan and said, "Neither am I." He glared right back, but before he could reply, I added, "You don't even have a Duel Monsters deck."

Tristan opened his mouth to reply, but stopped.

"You do need a deck to go in..." Mokuba muttered.

Tristan rolled his eyed, but nodded. "Fine. I'll stay."

I held back the smug grin that I so wanted to shoot at him, and walked over to one of the Virtua-Pods.

"Well then, let's go!" Yuugi said.

We all started climbing into the pods, and Téa said, "You guys had better be careful."

"We'll be fine!" I said.

"Yeah, don't you worry about a thing." Yuugi added. "We'll be back in no time."

"Alright Tristan, let's go!" Joey yelled to him.

Tristan hurried over to the controls and looked at them, confused.

I could almost hear Mokuba roll his eyes. "The green button, Tristan."

"Right." He hit it, and the glass covers on our pods closed over us.

A robotic voice inside the pod started up. "Please insert deck into duel drive recognizer." A little compartment slid open by my right hand.

I obeyed, reaching into my coat pocket to get my deck, then set it inside the compartment. I heard a little beep, and the drawer slid closed.

I watched as Tristan pulled a lever. There was a bright yellow flash, and suddenly I was in a tunnel of blue and green streaked lights racing past. There was almost a slight tug on my mind, and I could feel my consciousness slip from that room to somewhere else. The tunnel burst open at the end, revealing a forest below, and before I knew it, I was crouched on the forest floor.

I stood up and looked around. Yuugi and Joey were to my right, and Mokuba was on my left. We were standing in the middle of a forest, and I swear, I could smell it. The trees, the flowers, everything. There were birds chirping around us, and the sound of cicadas accompanied it.

"This is amazing..." I murmured.

Mokuba smiled. "My brother tried to make everything as realistic as possible."

"No kidding..." I crouched to run my fingers through the grass, reveling in how life-like it was. It was then that I noticed the duel disk on my wrist. The Life Point count read 2000, and there was a deck in the slot. I pulled it out and sifted through it. It was mine.

"Alright, we should get going." Yuugi said.

I stood and nodded. "Yeah, let's go."

We all stood still, looking at Mokuba. He rolled his his eyes, but laughed. "This way, guys."

He led us off into the forest, none of us really sure what awaited ahead.

* * *

**There ya go, chapter 8. Legendary Heroes is going to be so fun to write! XDDD**


	9. Chapter 9: Seconds Ticking Away

**So, to the reviewer:**

**IBD: Thank you SO MUCH on your review on chapter 5. I'm glad that I'm not the only person who sees these things! :D Also, I did have the chance to read the Duelist Kingdom manga (fantasmic) and that's actually why I did the end of the Yuugi v Kaiba duel, with him counting the squares on the floor. But I've been getting them from my friends library, and we've been rushing through reading them, so I didn't get to do much more of that. I'm going to start trying to use the Japanese version more. More on that later...**

**And welcome new readers, hope you're enjoying the story!**

* * *

"Mokuba, are you sure you know where you're going?" I asked. "These look like the same trees we passed five minutes ago..."

"This is a video game. There's not going to be different programming for every tree here!" He grinned.

We'd already been walking for at least twenty minutes, and it wasn't until another five had passed that the trees gave way to a cemetery shrouded in fog.

"This looks inviting." I murmured.

"We probably have to go through here to progress in the game." Yuugi said, then started forward. Mokuba and I followed, and Joey brought up the back of the group.

It seemed pretty calm at first, but about halfway to the end, Joey said, "Uh, guys?"

We turned, and something was coming out of the ground near his feet; something that looked like an Armored Zombie monster. We all jumped back, and two more figures clambered up from the dirt: a dragon and a clown. Both looked half decayed.

I yelled, "Dammit, Joey, you woke them up!"

"It wasn't my fault!"

Something appeared above their heads, and I realized they were attack and defense point readings. The dragon had 1600 attack, the Armored Zombie was at 1500, and the clown had only 1350. All of the defense points were at zero.

"Wait a sec. These zombies are nothing but Duel Monsters!" Joey said. "So if I just draw a card," He pulled one from his deck. "Then... I don't really know what..."

"Let me show you how it's done." Mokuba said. He pulled a card from his deck and held it up, yelling, "I summon the Rude Kaiser!"

Yuugi followed suit. "The Dark Magician!" He held the card above his head.

I wasn't going to miss out on all the fun, so I drew a card and yelled, "Guardian Tryce!"

Our monsters each jumped from their respective cards and launched at the zombies, destroying them. But as quickly as they vanished, they reappeared.

"They came back?!" I gasped.

"I got 'em!" Joey yelled, summoning the Flame Swordsman.

The creature went to attack, but we all failed to notice that the zombies' attack points had all increased. The Flame Swordsman still ripped through the zombie dragon, but when it reappeared, it was strong enough that it destroyed Joey's monster.

"What is going on here?!" Joey asked, irritated.

"We can't destroy them, they just grow stronger when we try!" I said.

"True, but look at their defense points!" Yuugi said. "They're all at zero still."

Joey's eyes lit up. "Oh, so if I activate this," He pulled Shield and Sword from his deck. "They'll be vulnerable!"

All the zombies attack and defense points switched, leaving them all at zero.

Yuugi nodded, then ordered his Dark Magician to attack, destroying the zombies for good.

We stood still until we were sure no more zombies would show up, then we all relaxed.

"Glad that's over with," I said.

Mokuba nodded. "No kidding!" Something caught his eye and he walked over to where the zombies had been. "Guys, check this out!" He held up a card.

I walked over and took it from him. It was like a Duel Monsters card, but there was no description or name. The picture was just the number five with some coins.

"What do you think it is?" Mokuba asked.

"Maybe... maybe it's like currency?" I guessed.

Yuugi walked over and I handed him the card. He nodded. "Yeah, like a scoring system."

"Hey, my Life Points aren't going back up!" Joey said suddenly. "I guess these virtual monsters are playing for keeps..."

I shivered, not wanting to think about what would happen if our Life Points hit zero.

Behind one of the headstones came a tiny giggle. We all looked over and saw a little fairy.

"Wonder what that's here for..." I said.

Joey's eyes lit up. "Hey, I bet it's one of those fairies that they put in games to help the players out!"

The fairy flew off suddenly, and Joey yelled, "Quick, let's follow it!"

"Anything to get us out of this graveyard..." I muttered.

Joey ran off first, and I followed right behind him. The fairy led us up a trail, into the forest, but opposite the way we came in. When light started seeping through the trees ahead of us, the things sped off, leaving us behind. The trees finally broke into the open, revealing nothing but a rocky cliff.

"How helpful..." Joey grumbled.

I walked to the edge of the cliff, peering down below. At the base of the cliff was just more forest, but out a little further, I could see a whole town.

"Hey guys, come see!" I called them over, and they joined me. "Maybe that's what the fairy was leading us to."

"Wow, an entire virtual town..." Yuugi said. "We should probably go check it out."

"Yeah, maybe we can find some clues."

We all headed down a small path to the right. It wove down the side of the cliff and we reached the bottom where it continued to lead us to the town.

It was a quaint little place, the buildings made of adobe or sand-colour stone. Stalls selling food and other essential things lined the streets. Everyone was dressed in cliched desert-environment clothing, covering as much skin as possible to keep off the sun.

"This is so cool!" I said, trying to take everything in. It was amazing to me that Kaiba had created all of this.

"Ugh..." Joey stared at a stall with dried lizards as we went by. "I'm glad we ate before we got here..."

"Hey, check this out!" Yuugi stopped at a vendor that was displaying Duel Monsters cards.

Joey hurried over to inspect the cards. "Cool! This might come in handy here..."

"But look at the price, Joey..." I pointed at the sign right under his face. There was a picture of three coins, and the number 2000 written right by them.

"2000 coins?!" Joey dug through his pocket, muttering, "We must've earned at least that much from those zombies." He pulled out the card we'd picked up. It still said five coins. "Five?! Not even close!"

Mokuba rolled his eyes. "C'mon guys, let's concentrate on finding my brother first."

Joey nodded, and Yuugi asked, "Any ideas?"

"How about we split up?" I suggested. "Usually you gotta talk to people to progress in video games, so there must be someone here that can help."

Yuugi nodded. "Okay, where should we meet up?"

"How about that big fountain?" Mokuba pointed to the end of the street, where it opened up to a big courtyard with a huge fountain in the middle. We all agreed and headed off in separate directions.

I talked to everyone I could find, sometimes helping people with errands or menial tasks to get any information. Most of what I got seemed like a lot of side-quest bogus, but I held onto every detail I could. I didn't know what was helpful and what wasn't.

The most I was able to gather from anything was that there wasn't much else nearby unless you crossed the desert. And from the sound of it, that wasn't very easy. One old man that I delivered a letter across the street for told me that we would need a Niwatori to cross the desert. It wasn't possible otherwise. However, because of their usefulness, Niwatori cards were very rare in this town and usually couldn't even be bought. He said it was "a prized bird," and that it could only be won.

After I got this information, I headed back to the fountain. We'd been searching for at least two or three hours, and that seemed like plenty of time for the four of us to have covered the town.

Yuugi was already waiting at the fountain when I walked up, and Joey and Mokuba came up right after. Joey had a dog attached to his right leg by it's teeth, and he was just dragging it along. After we removed Joey's leg from the dogs mouth, Yuugi asked if anyone got good information.

"I got a great lead!" Mokuba said. He pointed the the north side of the town. "Do you guys see that mountain? An old woman that I was talking to said she saw a man with a prisoner headed there this morning. Supposedly there's some kind of ancient temple at the top. The only way to there is by crossing the desert."

"Great, then let's go!" Joey started heading off.

"Wait, wait, guys!" I stopped him. Everyone looked at me. "I got some information too."

"What is it?" Yuugi asked.

"I was told about the temple across the desert too, but I was also told that it's impossible to cross the desert without a Niwatori card."

Joey scratched his head. "But where are we supposed to get one? I didn't see one anywhere."

"Me neither." Mokuba said.

"The man that told me about the card said it's pretty rare because it's so useful..." I told them.

"Maybe one of those card stands has it..." Yuugi suggested.

I shook my head. "Apparently it can only be won."

"Won? Like a prize?" Joey asked.

"Yeah."

"Wait..." Yuugi thought for a moment. "Prized... Guys, I think I've got it! I saw a coliseum on the way back here!"

"It's worth a shot. Where is it?" I asked.

"This way." Yuugi ran off to the east, leading us to the coliseum. It was pretty obvious when we found it. There was a huge sign out front that read Shadow Coliseum.

"Fame, glory and the prized Niwatori card await the heroic warrior who can beat our champion." Mokuba read off the sign.

"Then this is obviously where we need to be." I said.

"Yes! Let's sign up!" Joey said.

We went through the front doorway, and followed the signs and people's directions to where we could sign up. We were directed to a door that opened up to a small smelly room. Inside sat a big, gross goblin that was apparently the "grand battle chief," as he called himself.

When Yuugi asked about one of us becoming a warrior, the goblin looked amused. "One of you? I don't know. This city takes its gladiator matches quite seriously... But if it's a shot at the champion you desire... One moment..." He paused, his eyes focused on a fly that was buzzing around the room. Suddenly, he shot his tongue out like a frog and caught the fly to eat it.

"Ew..." I muttered.

The goblin continued. "Far be it from me to stand in your way." He reached down by his chair and pulled out a dark teal blue cape and a pig mask. "Here," he held them out, "your battle mask and combat cape."

Yuugi took them from him. "Wow. Is all this stuff really necessary?" He asked as the goblin headed out.

"Yes! If you're going to lose all your life points, you may as well look like a hero."

My heart jumped. "Lose all his life points?"

"Give that stuff to me, Yuug." Joey said. "I'm not letting you risk all your life points for this. I'll fight their champion."

"But you already have less life points than any of us." Yuugi objected.

Joey shrugged and took the cape and mask from Yuugi. "Yeah, well, looks like I'm gonna have to be extra careful then, huh?" He grinned. "But so will the champ, once he sees the awesome skills I have!"

We stayed silent for a second, then Yuugi nodded. "Okay..."

The goblin ushered Yuugi, Mokuba, and me out of the room and directed us to the stadium. We found some seats easy, since the stadium was only half full.

As we sat down, the goblin appeared in the announcer's stand and yelled, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have at last found a soul brave enough to challenge our champion! I present to you the purveyor of poundings, the picture of pugnacity, the pig that packs a punch. Introducing the challenge that I've dubbed Senor Porky!"

I sweatdropped. "Senor Porky?"

"I guess it could've been worse..." Mokuba said.

Joey walked into the arena, covered completely by the cloak and pig mask. The audience began booing him like mad, making snide comments and throwing insults all around. Obviously, the champion was well-loved around here.

"Now," The goblin bellowed, "introducing our undefeated champ! The monarch of mayhem, the queen of mean... Madame Butterfly!"

The champion was brought out from the door opposite Joey, sitting on a chair being carried by two goblins. She had a cape like Joey's, only red. Her face was hidden behind a large butterfly mask. When she was on the ground facing Joey, the goblin in the announcer's stand hit a bell, signifying the battle's start.

Mokuba, Yuugi, and I leaned forward at Joey drew his first card. Joey held up the card and yelled, "Flame Swordsman!" It appeared from the card, standing in front of Joey.

The champion seemed to snicker, and say something, but we couldn't hear. She held up a card and summoned Harpie Lady. Joey rushed into an attack, but the champion played the trap, Mirror Wall. Flame Swordsman bounced back, his attack points halving.

"Wait a sec..." I started. "Doesn't this strategy seem familiar?"

Yuugi nodded. "Mai always used it. But... why would she be here?"

I looked back at the arena. Now that I thought about, the champion did look like it could be Mai...

Joey noticed it too, and took off his mask. The champion stopped short, said something else we couldn't hear, then took off her own mask. It was Mai.

Yuugi jumped up, motioning Mokuba and me to follow, then hopped over the railing into the arena. We followed him over to where Mai and Joey were.

"What are you doing here, Mai?" Yuugi asked when we stopped by them.

"I'm testing this game for some suits at KaibaCorp." She said, looking at all of us questioningly. It was probably weird enough just seeing Joey.

Joey stepped forward. "Listen Mai, you could be in danger."

Mokuba nodded. "Yeah, those suits kidnapped my big brother."

"They've trapped his mind in this game." Yuugi said.

"We think he's in a temple across the desert." I added. "That's why we need the Niwatori card."

The already irritated crowd started yelling, getting really riled up.

"I know this crowd is virtual, but they look really mad to me..." Joey muttered. "we'll have a problem getting out of here without finishing the duel."

"We still need the card though." I said.

"I'm not so sure about the desert, but I'm over this place." Mai said. "I can get that card." She drew a new card from her deck and turned to her Harpie Lady. "Use Rose Whip!" The creature lashed the whip out towards the announcer's stand. It wrapped around the displayed Niwatori card and pulled it back towards us.

"Let's get outta here!" Joey shouted, and we all started running for the exit.

I heard the goblin yell, "Don't let them get away!" accompanied by the sound of lots of footsteps behind us.

"This is ridiculous!" I panted as we ran. The crowd never gained on us, but we couldn't lose them either.

"I've had enough." Joey pulled Trap Hole from his deck and activated it.

I looked behind me in time to see the crowd drop into a hole that spanned the street, not only trapping them, but preventing others from following. "Good thinking Joey!"

We kept running until we hit the desert and wasted no time in summoning the Niwatori's that we needed to cross. It was really weird riding the over-sized chickens as means of transportation, but if it was the only way to cross the desert, I wasn't going to complain.

We made across the desert with only one hitch, encountering some kind of rock creature that was like a giant snake, but once it was destroyed, the sand all settled, revealing a temple in the distance. It was huge with a green roof, and long, wide staircases leading up to the main doorway. When we reached the base of it's steps, Mokuba immediately hopped off his Niwatori and ran for the temple. I didn't wait to follow, jumping off my own Niwatori and motioning everyone else to follow.

Inside, it wasn't anything like a temple. It looked more like a damp, ugly cave, like the ones we'd been trapped in at Duelist Kingdom. These were much easier to navigate, however. There was just the one main path, and it led straight to a large wooden door.

We definitely didn't expect for there to be a whole labyrinth behind it.

"It's like where we dueled the Paradox brothers..." Joey commented.

"Only this time, we're going to be the ones navigating it." I said, a chill running up my spine.

There was a loud scraping sound behind us, and when we turned, we saw the wooden door shutting itself, locking us in.

"That's not good." Mokuba said.

"I'm totally freaked!" Mai told us.

"It's alright." Yuugi said. "We wouldn't beat the game by going backwards anyway."

I nodded in agreement. "Which means we have to go through the maze if we want to find Kaiba..."

Suddenly, there was the sound of a feminine scream from inside the maze.

"Someone's in trouble!" Yuugi said, starting forward.

"I'm on it!" Joey yelled, pushing through everyone and running for the maze.

"Watch where you're going Joey!" Mai yelled. "That doofus will do anything to meet a girl." She shook her head, tsking. "I guess he realizes I'm way out of his league."

I had to force myself not to laugh. It wasn't that I thought bad of Mai, I just found it funny that she was giving herself a reason for why Joey didn't seem interested in her.

The rocks for the wall behind us shot past us, accompanied with a huge roar. We whipped around and saw a huge blue tank with a giant drilling bit on the front. A point counter appeared above it's head that read "2400/2400."

"It's a Labyrinth Tank! Run!" Yuugi shouted, heading for the maze.

I pushed Mokuba ahead of me and started running. The labyrinth was pretty straight for a while, which turned out to be a bad thing. The tank picked up speed easily and started gaining on us.

Even from the back of the group, I could see Joey looking left and right over and over at the first turn.

Yuugi yelled, "Joey! Gotta go now!"

He looked back at us, his eyes widening when he saw the tank behind us. He turned down the left path, now running with us, but another Labyrinth Tank appeared in that direction too. We turned around to go the other direction, but another Tank sat there. We were boxed in.

"Anyone got a plan?" I muttered, instinctively pushing Mokuba closer to the wall and away from the tanks.

Yuugi pulled out a card from his deck. "I'll use my Magical Hats!"

I looked up and saw the familiar black hat appear. The strange part was that the hat wasn't dropping on to a monster this time, it was dropping on us.

The blackness closed around us and the colour of the light seeping from under the edge changed from blue to purple.

"Heh, I love that trick!" Joey chuckled.

"Can we get out of here, please?" I muttered, starting to feel claustrophobic. I already felt my heartbeat picking up, and I started biting my nails.

Joey knelt to grab the edge of the hat, then flipped it over. The hat disappeared, leaving us in the open. My heartbeat slowed to a regular pace.

The Labyrinth Tanks were long gone, but we heard rumbling on the other side of the wall behind us.

"That sounds like those tanks." I said.

"They're coming after us!" Mai gasped. "Which way should we go?"

The same little fairy from before glided down and stopped in front of Yuugi. She motioned us to follow and sped off.

"Well, let's go!" Joey exclaimed.

We all ran after the fairy, and after the first courner, we heard an unfamiliar voice.

"Iru, you're back!"

In the passage way that we had just entered was a girl in a long pink dress. When we got closer and she looked at us, I realized she looked almost just like Mokuba. Same hair, same height, same eye colour. Only difference was the eyes and face shape, which were both slightly more rounded.

"Hey Mokuba, check it out." Joey said. "Looks like that fairy turned you into a girl."

I cocked my head at him, confused, and Mokuba stepped out from behind me. "Great, can she make you smart?"

I chuckled, then murmured, "You guys do look a lot alike though..."

Mokuba looked at the girl. "We heard someone scream. Are you alright?"

She nodded and motioned to the fairy. "I lost Iru, my guide."

Joey stepped forward. "Well, we're all here now. So, can you get us out of this maze?"

She shook her head. "I'm lost, too... But Iru will find a way out for us!"

Everyone perked up as the fairy led us through the labyrinth We weren't very far, so after a short while, we saw the last corridor open up to the rest of the cave. It was a nice change from the walls boxing us in.

Instead, there was a giant Gate Guardian there to greet us.

The stats that appeared about it's head read "3750/3400."

"Well shit..." I muttered, knowing I didn't own any monster that we had that could even come close to beating this. I shifted my stance so I was in front of Mokuba and the girl. Mai, Yuugi, and Joey were in front of us.

"What do we do?" Mokuba gasped.

Joey and Yuugi exchanged a knowing glance, then Joey pulled a card from his deck and said, "I'll play my Red-Eyes Black Dragon!"

Yuugi drew a card too, and shouted, "And I'll play my Summoned Skull and Polymerization!"

The creatures jumped from their cards and swirled together. When the tangled mess took a form, it was Black Skull Dragon, the same monster they'd used against the Paradox brothers. It's attack was only 3200.

"Guys, that's not enough!" I shouted at them.

"I hate this!" Mai said. "Everything is rigged against us!"

"Just wait," Joey said. "I still got Dragon Nails!" He pulled the card from his deck. "It raises our attack power by 700 points." The dragon's attack rose to 3900. Joey shouted, "Molten Fireball Attack!"

The fire shot from the monster's mouth and collided with the Gate Guardian, effectively destroying it.

"That's amazing!" The girl behind me said. "You're all so brave, so much like the heroes of legend." She addressed all of us.

Joey rubbed his nose. "It was nothin'."

"Heroes of legend?" Yuugi inquired.

The lights of what looked like lanterns appeared further down the cave, accompanied by a female voice calling, "Milady, is that you?" A few more voices joined it, as the group of people grew nearer. They were calling the girl Edina. I could make out one elderly-looking lady at the head of the group. The rest of the crowd was all in armor, like they were knights.

"Grandma!" Edina called, making her way in front of us.

The other group of people joined us, and the elderly woman said, "Lady Edina, we've been worried sick about you!" Her eyes ran across the rest of us. "I see you've made some new friends."

"They saved me. They're the bravest warriors I've ever seen!"

We all shifted awkwardly, knowing that we really hadn't done that much. But the old woman seemed impressed enough.

Edina continued. "As thanks, I'd like to invite them as guests to the palace!"

"Palace?" I asked.

"Sounds fancy." Joey said.

The old woman smiled at us. "We can bring you to the palace." She turned, motioning us to follow, and started back the way she'd come from.

We walked somewhere around five minutes through the gently upward sloping path before the caves opened up to a green, mountain-like landscape. Again, I was struck by the amazing realism of it. The air was brisk and noticeably thinner.

On the path, there were two carriages that were being led by some weird, colourful, ostrich-looking things. They seemed to be waiting for us.

The old woman led Yuugi. Joey, Mai, Mokuba and me to one of the carriages while she and Edina went to the front carriage.

We got all settled in as the carriages pulled forward. Mokuba sat between Joey and I on the back bench, and Yuugi and Mai sat facing us.

"Well," Joey started, "I still don't know what to make of this crazy game world, but I like this part a lot better than that maze!"

Mai nodded, then said, "I like Edina. At least she knows how to travel in high style."

"At least she knows people that were able to get us out of those caves!" I tried to joke, starting to chew on my nails anxiously.

Yuugi grinned. "Mokuba, you should be flattered that Kaiba based such a cool character on you."

My heart jumped a little bit at the mention of Kaiba's name for some reason, but I ignored it and continued chewing on my nails.

"On me?" Mokuba pointed at himself.

Joey smirked. "Yeah, on you... Milady." He taunted.

"Hey!" Mokuba protested.

I grinned. "C'mon Mokuba, you gotta admit, Edina looks a heck of a lot like you."

Mokuba stuck his tongue out at me, and I just returned the gesture.

"Guys, look at that!" Yuugi was gazing out the window to his left.

I looked too, and saw a huge castle on the very peak of the mountain. Everything was still green.

"Nice!" Joey grinned. "Hope they got food in this game!"

I playfully pushed Joey's head away from the window. "Jeez, Joey, your appetite is insatiable."

"I just hope they can help us." Mokuba muttered. "We need to find Seto."

We rode the rest of the trip to the castle in silence, everyone reminded that with all joking aside, we still had a serious reason for being there.

The carriages dropped us off right in front of the castle, and Edina and her grandmother led the way inside. It was grand, that's for sure. The courtyard was huge, and it lead to a three-story-high door. The castle's exterior was entirely stone, and the door was wood reinforced with metal.

When we walked inside, Yuugi asked, "Edina, is this your castle?"

She smiled and nodded. "It is. I am the princess of this land, Simlowe."

"That makes a little too much sense..." I murmured. Video game, girl in danger, she's a princess.

Princess Edina led us to the dining room. All I was thinking was that the one room was bigger then my whole house. There was already a meal laid out at the table, and I could almost hear the drool dripping from Joey's mouth behind me.

Edina's grandmother faced us and said, "A meal has already been prepared for you, so please, help yourselves."

Joey didn't hesitate to dive in, but the rest of us tried to be a bit more gracious than him.

"Be careful, everyone." Mai said as Joey grabbed for everything on the table. "Keep your hands and feet away from Joey's mouth."

Mokuba, who'd been quiet for a while now, finally spoke up. "Princess Edina, do you have any news of my brother?"

The princess' face turned somber. "Well, I didn't want to say anything, but... people often disappear when it is time for the offerings..."

That didn't sound good. "Offerings?" I asked.

Edina stared down her plate. "Every year at this time, offerings are collected from this and another kingdom so that the Mythic Dragon can be resurrected." She looked back at us. "The other kingdom has already put up their offering. Some stranger from a distant land."

"That's gotta be Seto!" Mokuba leaned forward. "Please, tell me where he is!"

"He's in a dark castle floating in the sky..."

That stopped me up short. I looked at Yuugi. "Is it just me, or does that sound like..." I trailed off, feeling a little silly.

"The Castle Of Dark Illusions?" Yuugi finished my sentence. "Yeah, I was thinking the same thing."

Edina pointed to the wall behind Yuugi, Joey and me. "That painting tells the tale. We have passed down the legend for generations."

The painting was rather small, and it had the picture of a white bird, it's wings stretched across it vertically. In front of the bird it was day, but behind it's wings, it was night.

Edina started telling the story. "Long ago, a hero escaped that dreaded castle on a flying machine. It is said that he hid his vessel in Simlowe a thousand years ago. But, his ship was never found... And there's no other way to reach the dark castle."

"We could fly there on the Red-Eyes Black Dragon." Mai said simply.

Edina shook her head. "A magic barrier protects the castle. No Duel Monster can penetrate it."

"Oh no," Mokuba hung his head.

"Hey, don't worry Mokuba!" I told him. He looked up at me. "We'll still get Kaiba." I wanted to tell him to remember that this was a game, and there's always a way to win, but I didn't know how well that would go over with the game characters.

Mokuba just nodded, trying to let himself be reassured.

Mai looked at Edina. "So, what are you going to do about your kingdom's offering?"

She looked away. "Well, I've volunteered..."

I gasped, and Joey almost choked on the food in his mouth doing the same.

"But don't worry about my fate." Edina continued. "For with the legend comes a prophecy, and it predicts that epic heroes will come to Simlowe from beyond the distant mountains. It is these great heroes who, united, will create a power that is strong enough to destroy the Mythic Dragon."

"And you're saying you think that's us?" Yuugi asked.

Edina nodded enthusiastically. "Yes! On your shoulders rest the fate of our kingdom."

My shoulders felt heavier already.

Joey jumped up. "Alright! Super Joey is here to save the day!"

"This isn't an eating contest, Joey," Mai rolled her eyes. "This is dangerous."

Joey shrugged. "Whatever. We got to go through that Mythic Dragon to rescue Kaiba anyway, right? Way I see it, there's no choice."

We all nodded, and Edina said, "To properly prepare you, we will adorn you in the manner of our greatest heroes!"

xxx

"No, I am not wearing a skirt."

"But it's the traditional armour..."

"I'm sorry, but what am I supposed to do in a skirt? I can't do anything... At least not modestly!"

After our conversation with Edina, we had been led up to some rooms filled with armour and clothing. The ladies helping me with my armour were trying very hard to get me to wear a skirt, but how much help could I possibly be in a skirt?

I shook my head at the two women in front of me. "Aren't there any pants I could wear, or..."

One of them sighed and walked over to a chest full of clothes. She dug through it a moment, then pulled out a pair of dark blue cloth pants. She hurried over and held them up to me, muttering, "Yes, yes, these will do just fine."

After thrusting the pants into my arms, the women pushed me behind a curtain, urging me to get dressed.

The bottom layer of clothing was simple, the dark pants and a matching fitted long-sleeve shirt. The next layer consisted of the actual armour, which I had to have help with. The shoulder armour had a purple cape attached to it with a latch across the front. The chest armour was a dark silver, no fanciness about it. The boots they gave me tucked into knee-pad like metal plates on my legs, and last was some elbow length durable gloves. They also gave me back my Duel Disk. It was weird enough, wearing all this getup, but even weirder was how perfectly it all fit. It was like it was made for me.

The two ladies directed me to where the others would be, and it wasn't very far. All these rooms were connected, and really all they were was a bunch of fitting rooms connected to one big hall.

The first curtains that I came to were wide open, but before I passed them by, I heard Mokuba's hushed voice, and I paused where I was.

"C'mon Edina, switch clothes with me!"

"This isn't a good idea!"

"Listen, if we switch, then I can go to the castle and find my brother! Then you won't have to worry about being offered..."

I walked around the wall and stopped, hands on my hips, glaring at both of them. "What now?"

Mokuba and Edina jumped and looked at me. Mokuba spoke first. "Uh, did-"

"I heard what you're planning. Do you really think this is a good idea?"

"I do!"

That surprised me. "Why's that?"

"Because if I go to the offering instead of Edina, I can help Seto!"

I wanted to argue, but it was sort of true. Mokuba had a Duel Monsters deck with him. Edina didn't. But still... "Mokuba..."

"I know it's dangerous, but please! I can do this!"

I sighed. "Alright..."

His eyes lit up. "You won't tell anybody?"

I shook my head. "But if we all get out of here, this whole," I gestured towards them, "you being in a dress thing is going to be blackmail against you."

Mokuba stuck his tongue out at me, and instead of me doing the same, I said, "Just promise you'll be careful, alright?"

He looked at me, seemingly surprised by my sincerity, but nodded. "Of course."

I sighed again. "Okay. I'm leaving now. Go about being sneaky." I continued on my way to find Yuugi, Joey, and Mai, leaving Mokuba and Edina's scheme behind.

I only had to walk a few curtains down to find Yuugi and Mai. Mai was wearing what the two ladies had tried to get me to wear, except she seemed quite happy about it. Yuugi's attire was closer to mine colour wise, except his cape was red.

"Looking good, Mara," Mai winked at me.

I blushed a little. "I feel kinda stupid, actually."

"Same." Yuugi said.

Mai laughed. "C'mon guys, you look great!"

I shrugged and walked closer. "Where's Joey?"

"Back here." His voice came from behind me, so I turned to look. He was peaking out from behind a curtain, blushing the slightest bit. "And back here is just where I'm stayin', too."

"Oh don't be such a wimp." Mai said.

"Yeah, I'm sure you look fine." I added.

He sighed and pulled the curtain open.

"Oh my god." I covered my mouth to try to keep my laughter in, but it was impossible.

Whatever he was supposed to be wearing, it was completely different from the rest of us. It was some kind of Tarzan outfit, and there was a weird cow skull thing on his head.

"I look ridiculous!" Joey growled.

"You sure do!" I managed to choke out between fits of laughter. Joey just glared at me.

The lady who was helping him with his attire sighed. "But Joey, this is the traditional garb of the national hero!"

My laughter was cut off quickly by a crack of thunder.

"Where did that come from?" Mai asked.

I wiped my eyes, still fighting off the giggles. "It wasn't stormy looking before."

Edina's grandmother came and led us out to the castle walls. Clouds were gathering quickly, becoming a storm fast. A few guards gathered outside as well. We stopped at the edge of the wall.

"Princess, it's far too dangerous for you out here!" I heard Edina's grandmother say. I turned around and saw Edina and Mokuba coming towards us, clothing switched. Edina was wearing the armour Mokuba would have had to wear, much like Yuugi's. Their different eyes were enough of a tip off for me, but that might have simply been because I knew they had switched. Edina's grandmother took no notice.

"Look!" Yuugi pointed at the clouds. "A castle!"

I looked to where he was pointing, and sure enough, there was a castle just floating there. More concerning, however, was the masses of Duel Monsters pouring from it, all headed towards us.

"Looks like they've come to get their offering." Joey said.

I started chewing on my nails.

"How are we going to stop them all?" Mai asked.

Yuugi drew a card from his deck. "I'll activate the Dark Hole magic card!" I held it up, but it was suddenly stabbed to the ground by a throwing knife.

I looked for the source, and saw it on the castle's roof. "Guys look, the Armed Ninja!"

The creature threw out a net that latched itself around Mokuba, and started reeling the net in, up an away from all of us. We all dove to grab the net, but it was out of reach too fast.

"Axe Raider!" Joey yell after drawing a card from his deck. "Use Kunai With Chain to attack!"

The monster threw the blade and cut the rope connected to the top of the net, letting Mokuba fall. Everything else was in slow motion.

As Mokuba fell, I saw a Whiptail Crow swooping in, and I realized what was happening. I ran forward, headed for the edge of the wall next to where Mokuba was falling. The monster snatched the remaining rope, stopping Mokuba from hitting the ground and started to fly away. However, I wasn't planning on letting it get away that easy. I launched myself off of the edge of the wall, my fingers finding grasp on the net. The creature seemed to falter a bit, but continued flying up and away. I looked back and saw the castle diminishing along with my friends, and I could faintly hear them calling my name.

The roaring in my ears that I hadn't noticed before started to die away, and I reached my other hand up to the net so I had a better grip. _Don't look down. Don't look down... Don't look down, _don't_ look down_. I chanted in my head.

Mokuba looked at me, just now realizing I was there, and reached through the net to grab my wrist, as if he were trying to help me. I ignored the complete lack of floor beneath me as my legs dangled in the air, and focused on simply keeping my fingers clamped onto the net as the flying creature dragged me and Mokuba back to the Castle of Dark Illusions.

* * *

**YAY LEGENDARY HEROES! I'm sorry, I just love this part of the anime SO MUCH.**

**Okay, so last thing. I have an idea (shocker). Have any of you ever been to yu - jyo . net? It's just an episode guide, and it compares the English and Japanese versions of the anime while giving the entire overview of whole episodes. It'd probably be a good idea to go there and just look at even one episode (if you don't get hooked XD) to see what I'm talking about.**

**So here's my idea... Instead of copying the anime almost word for word, how would you guys like it if I just used this site and made up all my own dialouge? Would that be more interesting? Then the characters would be a lot more interpreted instead of anime cookie cutter. I try to cut out a lot of the 4kids cheesiness, but sometimes it's hard, and still ends up cheesy... I think it'd be interesting and really fun, but if you guys like it this way better, I'll keep doing it like this. Soooo review and tell me what you want! :D**

**Also, now Mara has a facebook AND a tumblr! I would REALLY appreciate it if you guys used the Tumblr. The facebook is fine too, whatever you want, but questions for her (which will be answered as her) will be posted to both sites. If someone posts to tumblr, i'll put it on FB too, and vice versa.**

**Here she is!**

**mara - sasaki . tumblr . com**

**Also, I have a kaiba RP/ask blog here:**

**kaiba - s - eto . tumblr . com**

**I'd appreciate it if you follow or friend Mara, or follow my kaiba blog, would you please either messege me there or here so I know it's a ff reader? Then I can interact with you guys.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	10. Chapter 10: The Mythic Dragon

**Hey guys! Normally I'd thank my reviewers, but there weren't any reviews since the last chapter. There was a follow though, so... Hi new follower! Glad you like the story!**

**Here's Chapter 10!**

* * *

The Whiptail Crow flew us into the castle from a dark passage towards the bottom of the floating "island." I couldn't see anything as we navigated the caverns. This caused me to have a claustrophobic panic attack in the small, enclosed space, which wasn't very helpful with keeping a grip on the net. Mokuba very quickly realized what was going on and tried stroking my wrist in an attempt to calm me down. It helped, but just enough for me to keep my head enough to hang on.

We finally entered a lit room, but there was no reason to calm down, because the light was coming from lava rivers flowing beneath us. The Whiptail Crow dropped us on a rock platform high above the rivers, but took the time to pick me back up and throw me on a different platform about fifteen feet away from Mokuba, ignoring my violent protests.

Mokuba had barely untangled himself from the net and lifted the dress over his head to reveal his armor underneath when the ground opened up beneath him. It was some sort of portal, glowing gold.

"Mokuba!" I yelled across the lava river as the portal closed up behind him. "Dammit!"

I looked around, seeing if there was some way out of this. "Okay, let's see... In my deck, there's- Gah!" Suddenly the ground under me opened up, dropping me into a portal like the one Mokuba had disappeared into.

When the opening closed above my head, it didn't feel so much like I was falling, but more like floating. I was surrounded by golden light.

_This seems more like something out of a dream than a place in the Castle of Dark Illusions... _I had barely thought the sentence when the gold opened up below me. I was dropped onto a stone surface, somehow landing on my feet.

My surroundings were a little confusing at first. I was on a huge platform surrounded by lava, and there was a large stone altar with two stone structures that were in the shape of a 'T.' Kaiba was tied up to one by the arms, and Mokuba was standing by him. I had landed by the other 'T.' Standing by the base of the altar was the Witty Phantom monster.

"Mara!" Mokuba enthused. Kaiba looked at me confused, and my face heated up.

Mokuba finished an unheard conversation with Kaiba, saying, "We're here to save you!"

The Witty Phantom chuckled, which surprised me. None of the other Duel Monsters had talked up to this point. "Please. You're not in any position to be saving anyone. No, you're about to join your brother for a dip in the Lava Pool." The Phantom focused his gaze on me. "And I suppose there's nothing wrong with offering three people to the Dragon instead of two."

I tensed, but stood my ground.

"And once that ritual is completed, the Mythic Dragon will be unleashed." The Phantom chuckled as if he was so clever.

Mokuba pulled a card from his Duel Disk. "Swordstalker, free my brother!"

The creature appeared and slashed the ropes binding Kaiba to the stone structure. Mokuba took the Disk off his wrist and handed it to Kaiba. "Here! Your deck!"

The Witty Phantom backed up a step. "Wait, what're you doing?"

Kaiba smirked, slipping the Duel Disk onto his arm. "Time for a trip to the recycle bin, Phantom!" He drew a card from the deck and shouted, "Go, Blue-Eyes White Dragon!"

The dragon flew from the card, and I muttered, "This is so cool..."

"Blast that Phantom!" Kaiba ordered.

The Witty Phantom tried to run off, but the burst of light shot from the Blue-Eyes' mouth, burning the thing on the spot.

"Come on, let's go!" Kaiba shouted.

Mokuba motioned to me specifically. "C'mon Mara!"

I ran after them, across a wooden bridge over the lava. Armed Ninjas started leaping from the walls, and one tossed out a Dragon Capture Jar in front of us, stopping us in our tracks.

I was about to panic, since the Dragon Capture Jar could take Kaiba's Blue-Eyes, but instead, Kaiba drew the Trap Master card, which ripped the Jar to shreds. A second Blue-Eyes appeared from it, so I assumed that he'd had it taken by this strategy earlier. He ordered the Blue-Eyes to destroy the Armed Ninjas, leaving the room clear of any threats. Kaiba looked at Mokuba.

"Now, tell me how is it you got here." He glanced back at me, and I assumed he already sort of had an idea.

Mokuba put on a pouty face. "Don't be mad, but I got Yuugi and his friends to help."

Kaiba's face grew livid, and he started to say something, but Mokuba continued. "I know, but I didn't know who else to turn to!"

"Anyone else." Kaiba snarled.

I flinched, and Mokuba said, "But Seto, I couldn't have done it without them! I mean, Mara's kind of a reason I got up here." He motioned at me.

I jumped a bit and leaned toward him. "Um, mind telling me what you mean?"

Mokuba looked back at me. "Well, you didn't spill the plan to anyone, so it worked."

"Mmm..." I stood straight, somehow embarrassed that Kaiba's attention was on me.

Now Kaiba turned away, obviously not wanting to hear the story. He started walking. "Let's just get out of here."

I followed him and Mokuba, now at a walking pace. It was so ridiculous, but I actually felt a bit hurt by Kaiba's reaction. Mokuba turned to us, and we wanted to help. I guess he just didn't want to have to deal with Yuugi again so soon... Either way, it felt personal, though chances were he didn't even know my name until Mokuba said it.

The bridge led into a rocky tunnel, which opened up to a huge, dead-end cavern. There was a large, black, swirly spot on the floor. Kaiba said it was a portal. We didn't know where it led, and we didn't want to take any chances, so Kaiba had the Blue-Eyes poke it's head through to see what was on the other side. I have to admit it was kind of adorable, that big, powerful dragon curiously sticking it's neck into the portal. It almost seemed like a little kid.

The dragon grumbled, giving us the okay, so we leapt into the portal. I was a little hesitant to do so, but I sure as hell wasn't going to be left behind. The portal dropped us into a huge open cavern, were Yuugi, Joey, and Mai happened to be standing.

I beamed. "Hey, you guys made it!"

"And you guys are okay!" Joey replied. "What a relief! We've been all worried!"

Kaiba smirked. "Joey, you look like an overgrown monkey in that outfit."

I tried not to laugh, but didn't succeed.

"Overgrown monkey?!" Joey growled. "That's the thanks I get for coming to resc-"

Suddenly there was an ominous laugh that echoed through the chamber, making me jump. It resonated from the staircase behind us. "Congratulations, gamers. You've made it to the final level."

Kaiba turned to face the sound. "Correction, you slime ball. We've beaten the game."

"Oh, is that what you think, Seto Kaiba?" The star carving above the door emitted a black aurora.

"That's right. I escaped the Lava Pool. Therefore, the Mythic Dragon wasn't summoned. That means this game is over."

"I don't like where this is going..." I whispered. Mokuba looked at me, confused.

The deep voice chuckled. "It'll be 'game over' all right. But for you, not us."

The black aurora from the star suddenly engulfed the room, and before I had time to panic, the room lit back up, but was completely changed. The floor was green and had streams of light running through it, like a computer chip. There were no walls or ceiling. Everything simply faded off.

"They've rewritten the program!" Kaiba snarled. "They're summoning the Mythic Dragon themselves."

My eyes slid wide as creature that I recognized as the 5-Headed Dragon card manifested itself. It had to be as tall as a ten story building, and each head remarkably resembled the different monster Attributes.

Damn Kaiba for making this game so fantastically realistic...

"I'm really startin' to miss the real world!" Joey said.

"Suck it up." Kaiba snapped. "There's only one way we can get out of this game."

Yuugi nodded. "We have to take this dragon down."

Mai took the liberties of the first summon. She shouted, "I call on the Harpie Lady Sisters!" The monsters jumped from the card, but were sucked right back into it. "W-what happened?!"

"Just another bit of reprogramming that we did." The voice came from the dragon now. "We call it the Dragon's Seal. And it makes this lair a sacred place where only Dragon-Type Monsters can be played."

Kaiba chuckled. "You dare challenge me to a battle of Dragons? You five should all know better than that. I call the Blue-Eyes White Dragon!" The creature appeared from his card, still tiny compared to the Mythic Dragon.

Joey joined in too, summoning his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Mai called out the Harpie's Pet Dragon, and Yuugi summoned Curse of Dragon.

"Dammit..." I muttered. "I don't have any Dragon-Type cards in my deck..."

Yuugi glanced at me, an I shook my head regretfully. _Ugh, the one time I could possibly be helpful, and I screw it up..._

Everyone had their dragons attack. Each blast collided with one of Mythic Dragon's counter attacks. Since we only had four dragons out, that meant one of the Mythic Dragon's heads hadn't attacked.

"Hmmm... Our attacks were cancelled out..." The voice came mused, and I didn't like it's tone. "Well, one of your team has no cards to defend himself with at all! Isn't that right, Mokuba?"

"You wouldn't dare!" Kaiba snarled.

One of the heads of the dragon opened it's mouth, and an orange blast shot from the beast's mouth, aimed at Mokuba.

My body reacted before my brain was caught up. I ran towards Mokuba, skidding to a stop in front of him, arms out. I stared down the blast, yelling, "Mokuba, get down!" then squeezed my eyes shut.

He barely shouted, "Mara!" before I felt the blast slam into my chest. The heat burned through me first, then I was launched into the air. The wind rushed by my ears for what seemed like an eternity, and it took too long before I felt the floor again. I tumbled across the floor a long time before all movement ceased and I was laying on my side, disoriented. My eyes stayed closed, lids too heavy to lift. I heard a muffled sound from behind me. It sounded like a voice, possibly Mokuba's, but I couldn't tell for sure. It was too distant.

The effort it took to breathe was exhausting, and I was slowly going numb, though I welcomed that feeling. It started at my feet and worked it's way up my body with increasing speed. I didn't mind. It took away the burning and aching that was consuming me, more quickly than I could handle. Instead, I stopped breathing. My last breath seeped out from my lungs, and I didn't have the energy to draw in another. The numbness crept over my neck, inching towards my head to overtake me, and I gratefully let the shadows control of my mind as I gratefully sank into unconsciousness.

xxx

xxx

xxx

My head was pounding. I shouldn't be able to feel anything. I shouldn't be awake. I really shouldn't be breathing. The last thing I remembered was the numbness, the draining feeling...

I could feel natural warmth on my face, like sunlight. There was even a slight breeze ruffling my hair. Confused, I let my eyes flutter open, and was blinded by the sun at first. I lifted my hand to shield my eyes, and I finally registered the sounds around me. It sounded like there was a huge crowd, mumbling, shuffling around, with a lot of other ambient noise.

I sat up straight suddenly, my head finally clear enough to rationalize. I noticed I was sitting on the ground, on a stage. There was a crowd around the stage, and looking around bewildered, I saw Mai, Mokuba, and Joey sitting on the floor by me, looking almost as groggy as I felt. Yuugi and Kaiba stood on the stage too, looking at us, surprised.

"Seto!" Mokuba jumped up and ran to him, where as Yuugi came over to us. Mai and Joey stood up, but I stayed seated, my headache threatening to worsen if I joined them. Joey extended his hand to me to help me up, and I took it, thanking him and pressing my palm against my forehead when the pounding in my head strengthened.

"Are you all alright?" Yuugi asked Mai, Joey, and me.

"Well, I've got a wicked headache..." I muttered.

At the back of the stage, a black swirling mass appeared.

"Ugh..." I pressed my hand to my head more firmly. "Can we just pause? I'm way confused... Would someone explain what happened...?"

Before anyone answered, Kaiba turned away from us and said, "That's the exit portal. Let's go, Mokuba."

As he walked toward it, Mokuba right behind, Joey scowled, "Hey, hold up. Don't you think you could at least say thank you or something?"

Kaiba stopped walking, and without turning around replied, "I never asked for your help, and as far as I'm concerned, I never needed it." Kaiba turned and looked back at Yuugi. "Yuugi, you on the other hand, I will offer some gratitude."

Yuugi nodded, "Well, perhaps now you can begin to stop looking at us as adversaries, and more as allies."

Kaiba turned away, his eyes pausing on me curiously just long enough for me to notice before looking away. "Come on, Mokuba." He continued to the portal and walked through it, Mokuba following enthusiastically.

When he was gone, I heard the princess' voice come from the left. I turned to look, expecting the princess, but instead there was a creature that I recognized as the Mystical Elf. When she spoke, it was still the princess' voice. "Your brave deeds will always be remembered here. And we will always remember all of you."

I was going to need some serious filling in.

Everyone said their goodbyes, (mine in a confused state) and, being the last one to enter the portal, I paused to look back at everything before leaving.

_ Ya know, given the opportunity, I would love to play this game the way it was meant to be played..._

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**So guys... Guys... Guys... WE'RE ALMOST TO SEASON 2. SEASON 2 MEANS MY FRIEND'S CHARACTER AND MY CHARACTER WILL GET TO MEET AND OUR STORIES WILL BE ALL FUN AND PARALLEL! If you haven't read her story yet, go do that. Here's the link: s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2**

**She'll be a huge part of this story in season 2, so you'll want to get to know her better. I won't do much explaining of her in here because I'll assume you read my friend's story.**

**Review please? I like to know what you guys think!**


	11. Chapter 11: Wrapping Things Up

**Well the holidays definitely slowed down production. Sorry it's so short, guys! It would've made chapter 10 too long and wouldn't have fit in with chapter 12. I guess it could be chapter 10 and 1/2, but this site doesn't allow you to make half chapters. XD Now that the holidays are over and what not, I'll try to get chapters up faster. They definitely won't be only 700 words long! I've already started chapter 12, so it won't be as long a wait as this one.**

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The black portal seemed to spit me back to my body, the transition not nearly as smooth as entering game. I was left with a throbbing feeling behind my eyes, and I went to rub them with my hands without thinking. My fingers smacked the glass cover of the pod.

"Ow..." I muttered, feeling disoriented. My vision was blurry and there was a roaring in my ears.

The glass lifted up and the little drawer with my deck inside popped open. Sighing, I grabbed and put it back in my jacket before climbing out of the pod. I wobbled when I stood, but the feeling subsided quickly.

I looked around, and Yuugi, Joey, and Mokuba were all getting out of their pods too. Téa and Tristan were by the door, which was mostly baracaded with tables and whatever else they could find. However, it seemed the goons had bust through the blockade, but only barely. They were looking at us, surprised.

Téa beamed. "Guys, you're all back!"

"And Kaiba is too." Yuugi said. "He's probably getting out of his pod right now."

The guys who had bust in were backing up slowly, as if they were trying to sneak away.

"And without you guys to protect your bosses, I'd say he's about to kick some butt!" Mokuba yelled at them. It was a little hard to take him seriously when he worded it that way.

The goons all looked at each other, then ran out, taking Mokuba's word for it.

"Bunch of wimps." Tristan chuckled.

Mokuba turned and looked up at all of us. "Thanks, you guys. I couldn't have done this with out your help."

"Eh, it was nothing." Joey answered immediately.

I mussed his hair. "Yeah. Even if your brother doesn't want us around, you can count on us."

Mokuba laughed and pushed my hand away.

"Now go find your brother. He probably wants to see you."

Mokuba nodded. "You're right, I should find him. Thanks again, everyone!" He ran off towards the door.

"Well now what?" Joey yawned.

"I want to go home." Tristan slouched.

I nodded in agreement. "Maybe the storm stopped."

We all started walking and Yuugi looked at me. "So Mara, what happened up in the castle?"

I sighed. "Well, the Whiptail Crow dumped us on a seperate rock platforms in the middle of a lava pool. Then the floor opened into portal things. They dropped us on to the platform where Kaiba was." I grinned. "Mokuba gave him the Duel Disk, and we busted out of there."

Joey sneered. "We had to find the legendary ship, fight our way to the castle, and get through a bug-infested forest inside the castle." He put his hands behind his head, smirking.

I made a sarcastic face at him. "Wow, you went through so much suffering, huh?"

As a response, he stuck his tongue out at me.

We went through the door leading us outside. The rain had stopped, but water was still dripping off the roof and the ground was still soaked. The moon was just peaking through the clouds. It seemed so normal, like nothing had happened. It felt... weird.

I shrugged off the feeling and turned to my friends. "Well I need to get home. I told my parents I would head out when the weather cleared up."

Luckily for me, Tristan and Joey had to walk the same way as me to get home, so I didn't have to go alone in the middle of the night. It was pretty far a walk from the KaibaCorp building to my house.

To cover up why I had taken so long getting home after the storm stopped, I told my parents I just hadn't noticed it for a while. They believed me, and didn't ask anymore questions. I felt pretty guilty though; it seemed like I'd been lying to them a lot lately. But I couldn't help it now. I was a sucker for adventure, and I was afraid they wouldn't let me hang out with my friends if they knew the danger we'd gotten into. No, they wouldn't do that, and I knew it. There were just some things that parents didn't need to know about.

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**The ending is a bit weird I guess. Oh well. I wanted to wrap up the Legendary Heroes. Well, really I just want to be done with season one. It was a NIGHTMARE. But season two and on will be soooooo fun and I'm excited to write it! :D**

**So review, please, I love that stuff. Even if it's just a "I liked it." I like to know how many people are really into the story. :D Thanks guys!**


	12. Chapter 12: A New Game

**Hey guyssss! Time to thank my reviewers.**

**Madame Ce'line: Thank you! I'm glad you're enjoying the story!**

**Aqua girl 007: Thank you too XD And we all have our different holiday traditions lol. Also, sorry I haven't read your stories yet. I have one bookmarked, but I've been busy lately. I'll get to it though, promise.**

**Thank you new followers, especially Tempest NightMoon, because you've followed both mine and zelos888's stories, and you're the only one that we've seen that has so far lol! **

**Here's the end of season 1! Enjoy! :D**

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Unfortunately, the next day was a school day. I hadn't gotten any sleep the night before; my brain wouldn't shut down. All the thoughts and memories from the virtual game were still spinning around in my head, and I couldn't dispel them. It made it strange getting up for school the next day. It was as if nothing happened, and life just moved on past it.

When I arrived in homeroom second period, I caught myself looking for Kaiba. I didn't expect to see him, but he _was_ still a student, after all. It's not like he could be absent every single day. But either way, he never arrived, and for some unfathomable reason I was disappointed.

All my friends did show up, though, and It made me feel a little better when we talked about the previous night. It made it seem more real.

And yet, in spite of everything, I was continually reminded that Kaiba was absent. At first, I kept it to myself, but eventually it bugged me enough to bring it up.

"Hey guys, is Kaiba always absent this often?" I asked.

"Yeah, usually." Yuugi replied, nodding his head.

"Good thing too." Joey sneered.

"That's rude, Joey!" I scolded lightheartedly.

"Eh, what's it matter, anyway?"

I shrugged. "Just curious, I guess."

The subject was obviously wrapping up, and there was a pause, so Yuugi popped in again. "So guys, there a new game shop in town!"

"Oh yeah!" Téa said. "They had this new game they were really promoting... Something about dice and dungeons I think."

"You mean they have that new Dungeon Dice Monsters game?" Joey asked.

"You've heard of it?" I rose an eyebrow.

"Yeah, I read about it in the newspaper."

I laughed, and Tristan leaned in. "Since when do you read the newspaper?"

Joey glared at him. "Since I started delivering them, that's when."

The sound of a bunch of squealing girls sounded from the back corner of the room and we all turned to look. Most of the girls in the class were crowded around one desk, and I could see someone sitting there. He had long black hair pulled back into a ponytail with a red head band across his forehead, and he was holding a blue cup with six dice. He had one earring shaped like a die too. The guy seemed a bit too... out there to just be a normal student. But none the less, he was wearing a school uniform. It looked like he was doing some tricks with the dice, and the girls were just eating it up.

"Who's that?" I murmured.

"New kid?" Tristan guessed.

Joey turned to two male students sitting near us who were also watching the black-haired boy.

"Hey, you two know who that guy is?"

"Yeah," one responded. "That's Duke Devlin. He owns that new game shop that just opened up."

"Huh, he's still in high school and owns his own game shop?" I wondered aloud. _Then again, Kaiba is my age and owns a huge corporation..._

Joey rolled his eyes. "If there's anything I can't stand, it's a guy who'll do anything to get a girl's attention. He's a filthy show off."

I laughed. "You're just jealous that you're not as popular, huh?"

Joey scoffed. "Eh, if I wanted to I could be just as popular! I just don't want to stoop to that guy's level. I got myself respect, not to mention more talent in my little finger than than he'll ever have!"

Tristan sweat dropped. "If you count talking with food in your mouth a talent..."

"Good one," I laughed, and Joey scowled at us.

"Hey, didn't you catch any of my skills at Duelist Kingdom?"

"Luck isn't a skill either." Tristan countered.

"You're lucky I don't rearrange your face, wise guy!" Joey looked at Yuugi. "Come on, Yuug, back me up on this. I was one of the best duelists on the island!"

A new voice chimed in. "I don't want to intrude, but I couldn't help hearing that you dabble in the game of Duel Monsters."

I looked to the source, and it was the dice guy, Duke Devlin.

Joey crossed his arms and held his head a bit too high. "Dabble, smabble. If you knew the first thing about Duel Monsters, then you would know all about Bandit Keith, the intercontinental champion."

"Oh boy..." I muttered.

Joey continued. "The guy was unbeatable, but that didn't stop me from kicking his butt."

"I guess modesty is another of Joey's talents." Tristan grumbled sarcastically.

Duke pretended to listen for a bit, but then he looked at Yuugi. "Hey, you're Yuugi Muto, champion of Duelist Kingdom, right?"

Yuugi grinned. "Yeah, that's me."

"I heard a great deal about the way you play the game. "

Joey cut in again, pointing at himself as he spoke. "Hey, Dicey, what have you heard about me? Joey Wheeler?"

Duke smirked. "Nothing at all. But why don't we play a little game, and you can show all these lovely ladies just what you're made of."

I sweatdropped. This guy was obviously used to female attention; he seemed all too comfortable with it. I mean, sure, he was somewhat good looking, but right now him being a creep was counteracting that.

Joey cocked his head. "What game?"

"This." Duke held up a the cup he had and one die. "A cup and die are all we need to play. Are your talents up to the challenge?"

Joey sneered. "Alright, Devlin. Bring it on!"

Duke walked to the nearest table and set the die in the middle, then the cup on top of it. "Now, here's how it works. Using the power of my mind, I can move the dice into my right hand without even touching the cup."

Joey rolled his eyes. "Next you'll be telling me you can fly around the room. There's no way. It's impossible."

I sighed. I knew how this one worked. My dad had shown it to me once when I was little. It was a simple trick, because that's all Duke was doing. He was going to trick him.

Duke smirked. "You shouldn't underestimate me. The die might already be gone."

"What? No way!" Joey gaped.

"Well if you don't believe me, why don't you check?"

I crossed my arms. Yup, this was the same trick I'd seen.

"Wise guy." Joey reached for the cup and picked it up.

As expected, the die was still there, where it had been set before. Duke took the die from the table. "See? I moved the die into my right hand without touching the cup. That makes me the winner."

All the girls cheered and Joey gritted his teeth. "You're nothing but dirty con artist. If you were a real man, you'd play a real game! I challenge you to a match of Duel Monsters!"

I sighed. It wasn't a surprise that Joey got all sore about losing, but it was just a simple trick; it wasn't even a game. And now he was taking it personally.

Duke twirled a chunk of hair around his finger. "Alright; but since this game is your specialty, I do have one small condition."

"Okay, but no more funny stuff."

Duke shrugged. "I'm afraid I don't have a deck of my own."

All Duke's fans started murmuring, saying that made it unfair. I rolled my eyes. He _had_ already agreed, after all. It was his own fault.

"That's not my problem," Joey responded. "You're the one with the new card shop."

"My condition is simply this; we both open up new packs and create our own new decks. That's fair, right?"

"What's fair about that?" Yuugi piped up. "If you're not playing with your own cards, then the game's just pure luck."

I nodded, but kept my mouth shut.

Joey sneered. "Oh c'mon. Was I or was I not a finalist in the Duel Monsters championship?" Without waiting for a response, he turned back to Duke. "I accept your condition."

"Joey, this is a bad idea." I murmured.

He didn't reply.

"Excellent." Duke's grin was suspicious. "But playing a game for fun is so pointless. Let's make a little wager."

I frowned, not liking where this was going. It was almost as if he'd planned something like this to happen. What was wrong with playing the game for fun? Really, it was just for Joey to get an ego boost.

Duke continued, "If I win, you'll do whatever I ask for a week."

Without hesitating, Joey said, "Fine with me, 'cause when I win, you're gonna have to do whatever I say. And I want you to close down your stupid game shop!"

"He's toast." Téa sighed.

"Burned to a crisp." Tristan agreed.

I nodded. "I think he needs a reality check."

Joey whipped around to face us. "You all don't seriously think I'm gonna lose, do ya? I'm one of the top ranked players in the world!"

Yuugi spoke. "You're good, but...-"

"But nothing! I know what I'm doing."

Duke caught our attention again. "We can hold the match today after school. I have a state-of-the-art dueling ring in my game shop." He looked at the rest of us. "And you're all invited too. I wouldn't want you to miss your friend's finest hour."

He turned away from us and all the girls surrounded him again, asking about the newly planned match.

I scratched my head. There was no way this could end well. Duke seemed way too comfortable. He risked his whole game shop on this one game without batting an eyelash. I didn't trust the guy one bit.

xxxx

We all had enough time to go home and change after school before heading over to Duke's game shop. Which turned out good for me, because I was able to tell my parents where I was going to be. They didn't question much, but my mom commented on how happy she was that I had friends I enjoyed being around so much. I had to admit I still felt the same.

When we arrived at Duke's shop, Joey hurried ahead and led the way in, obviously still feeling overly-cocky. We were greeted by a black-haired man with a blue sweater tied around his shoulders, saying "Mr. Devlin" was waiting for us. He led us to an elevator, and when the doors opened, Duke was waiting for us.

"Glad to see you showed up." His tone seemed slightly mocking, as if he had expected Joey to flake out.

We entered the elevator, though it was a bit crammed due to a box sitting in the middle, filled with Duel Monsters packs.

"Go ahead, Mr. Wheeler." Duke gestured to the box. Choose your packs carefully."

Joey knelt by the box and grabbed a few packs, ripping the tops off.

"Get anything good?" Yuugi asked.

Joey sneered. "I got this match in the bag!"

After a few more moments, Joey had finished picking out his card packs and the elevator doors opened. According to the screen in the elevator, we were on sub-level six.

We all exited the elevator and walked into the enormous room ahead of us. It was like a duel stadium, but there were no seats; it was just the arena with some places to stand on the side. For some reason, there were TV cameras. Curious.

Three of Duke's fans from school were next to the elevator when we left it, and for some reason they were dressed as cheerleaders and making up little cheers. It was extremely irritating, to say the least.

Duke led the way into the room, and it was then that Joey took notice of the cameras.

"Whu-... TV cameras?"

"Yeah," Duke stopped walking and turned around to look at us. "I have a little theory that the bigger the audience, the better the performance." He smirked. "That's why I've decided to broadcast this match live all over the country."

"It would've been nice to mention that beforehand..." I muttered. This whole situation kept seeming more and more like a set-up to me. People can't just decide to broadcast something to the entire country within a day, unless it's one of those emergency broadcasts. Definitely not if you're simply an owner of a game shop. He either planned this, or has more connection than we knew. Possibly both.

Joey and Duke took their sides of the Arena (after some irritating cheering from Duke's cheerleaders) then the field and podiums lit up. Téa, Tristan, Yuugi, and I stayed at the side of the Arena for a full view.

For most of the duel, Joey held on to a huge lead. He actually took more than half of Duke's Life Points in the first round. But first rounds don't count for everything. The duel lasted only three full rounds, and on the beginning of the fourth, Duke wiped out Joey's Life Points with a combo of Gradius, Limiter Removal, and Fairy Meteor Crush.

The cheerleaders started chanting some pointless praise for Duke again, and both Joey and Duke returned from their podiums.

"It's okay, Joey." Yuugi said. "You did your best."

Joey didn't reply, and before anyone could say anything more, Duke snapped his fingers. I looked over to see one of the cheerleaders bringing over what looked like a giant stuffed dog. But when she got closer, I realized it was a dog costume.

She held it up to Joey and said in a condescending tone, "Put it on!"

"I hope you're a man of you word, Joey. I'm looking forward to having an obedient dog for the next week."

I glared at Duke. "Hey, knock it off. This isn't funny."

Yuugi spoke up too. "Just because you won doesn't mean you can put Joey down like this."

"Guys, a promise is a promise." Joey said to us. "And I gotta keep it..."

Seemingly out of no where, a die came flying at him and hit his forehead. Hard.

"Shut your yap!" Duke ordered. I got the idea that he'd thrown the die at Joey. "You will no speak until your master commands you to."

I wanted to say something, but I was too angry to conjure up anything coherent. If I thought I didn't like Duke before, I absolutely hated him now.

"Come on, Joey, let's get out of here." Tristan said.

Joey shook his head. "Sorry, guys. I gave my word."

Duke flicked two more dice at Joey's head. He sneered, "You're a dog now. You don't speak, you bark. So put it on and bark for me."

My eyebrows pulled together as Joey complied and put on the suit.

Duke snickered. "Well, it fits you perfectly. Now give us your best bark."

Joey did as he was told and got on his hands and knees, giving an obviously half-hearted woof sound.

Tea turned away, and I was so angry I felt nauseous. "C'mon, Joey, just get up." I tried to keep my tone even.

Yuugi turned to glare at Duke. "This has gone on long enough. I challenge you to a duel, and when I defeat you, you will declare Joey a free man."

Duke smirked, as if all was going to plan. "Excellent, but we will play a game of my own choosing: Dungeon Dice Monsters. And when you lose, you will give the title King of Games to me, and swear that you'll never play Duel Monster's again."

"That's too far!" Téa protested.

"Yuugi, you have too much to lose, don't do it." I added.

Yuugi didn't take our advice and said, "Fine, I will accept you're conditions."

Joey tried to protest, but Yuugi shook his head at him.

I frowned. I don't understand why Yuugi would accept this. Of course, we didn't want to see Joey like this. But even Joey felt this was a bad idea. Not to mention Yuugi had never played this Dungeon Dice Monsters game before; he was going to be at a major disadvantage. And Duke's attitude toward this was concerning.

I glanced at the cameras. Was he planning on broadcasting this too? I didn't doubt it. Who knows, maybe he'd been playing us all along, and all he'd wanted was to challenge Yuugi to his Dungeon Dice game. After all, he'd already had his conditions for winning down, and he wasn't at all surprised by Yuugi's challenge.

Yuugi and Duke took their respective sides of the Arena, and the field lit up again. However, it looked different. There weren't ten squares for each person, but lots of tiny squares over the whole field. The podiums switched up too. Now there were more tower-like structures, and there were three hearts on the front of them, set up horizontally.

Duke explained the game, which seemed simple enough. Except for when they first picked their dice. Duke didn't explain anything about them, so Yuugi had to go in blind. That part didn't have anything to do with rules, though. That took a bit more skill and experience.

Duke took the liberties of first turn, not only to explain the game, but probably to get the upper hand as well. He wasn't playing fair, not at all.

We learned somewhere along the way that not only was Duke the champion of this game, but also the creator. He was angry at Yuugi for ruining his chances of making his game a hit, saying Yuugi cheated in his match against Pegasus and caused him to lose connection with Pegasus.

Using the knowledge he had, Duke was in the lead for most of the game. It took a while, but Yuugi made a comeback and got Duke down to his last heart point using a Strike Ninja monster. However, Duke destroyed it before Yuugi could take out his last heart point. Using the same monster that he'd destroyed the Strike Ninja with, Duke attacked all of Yuugi's monsters and cleared his path to Yuugi's heart points, bringing him down to one. But somehow, Yuugi's summoned a Dark Magician and took out Duke's last heart point, winning the match.

After Yuugi won, Duke took back his comments about Yuugi cheating, and relieved Joey of his dog suit. He apologized profusely and was surprised that Yuugi wasn't all that mad. Though, it was Yuugi we were talking about, probably being the most forgiving person on the planet. I still wasn't completely okay with Duke, but he did keep his word, and even apologized to Joey himself.

When I went home that day, I had a strange feeling that a chapter of my life was past, behind me. I couldn't help but be happy about that. Looking back was never one of my fondest hobbies, and moving forward was a great way to not worry so much about what was done.

All I could do was hope the next chapter of my life wouldn't be so insane.

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**Wow. Season 1 is FINALLY over. I'm so stoked! :D Season 2 is gonna be FUUUUUuuuuuun. I hope you guys like this chapter, it was easier to write than I thought; but I _would _like to hear your opinions on how I did the duels in here. Instead of skipping them all together, I kind of summarized em. If you guys like this better, I'll probably stick with it. I thought it would be irritating to write it that way, but it turned out okay! **

**Onward, TO SEASON TWO!**

**zelos888's story (she's going to be updating really soon): s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2**


	13. Chapter 13: Eventfully Uneventful

**To my reviewers  
grapejuice101 - I'm glad you like the story! I updated. XD  
Madame Ce'line - I sent you a PM as a reply. Dunno if you saw it. But it explains that while I would love Mara to be in BC, the storyline just doesn't allow it. :C I hope you'll still enjoy the story though.  
Aqua girl 007 - Yessss Battle City! :D I liked the way the DD part was in the manga too, but this chapter makes it obvious why I didn't write it that way. XD**

**We are so close to BC guys. I can almost just *reaches for* I hope you guys like this chapter!**

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Fire. There was fire everywhere. The surrounding smoke caught in my throat, burning my nose and making my eyes water. I made my way through the flames, dodging falling debris as I went.

Where were my friends? Where was Yuugi? I couldn't find anyone. They were around here somewhere, I knew it. I just couldn't find them.

"Yuugi!" I shouted as loudly as I could while choking on the thick air. "Yuugi, where are you?"

The only response I got was a painful coughing. The sound was coming from every direction, disorienting me even more. I picked up my pace, looking around frantically.

"Where are you?!" I repeated, forcing the words out. My voice was getting raspy. I tripped on something and ended up on the floor, gasping to get some oxygen through the smoke.

The sound of breaking wood met my ears, and a crash shook the whole room.

I bolted up in bed, breathing in the clean, smoke-free air heavily. The only sound in my room was from the oscillating fan sitting on my desk, ruffling the papers on my bedside table.

With a sigh, I reached across my nightstand to grab my blue notebook from it, and took a pen from the drawer. After jotting down my dream with as much detail as I could recall, I tossed the objects back on the table.

This was a habit for me. Whenever I had a dream that I could remember - no matter how little detail - I would write it in my notebook. Not only to remember them, but to go over them later; see if they meant anything.

I hadn't had a nightmare in a while, and this one popped out of nowhere. I didn't understand it, but it still worried me. If it meant something, did it mean my friends where in danger? Yuugi, specifically?

Despite my efforts to clear my head, the dream stayed at the center of my thought throughout my morning, and when I arrived at school, I was still thinking about it. And it was making me restless. I decided that once I saw my friends, I'd feel better, but when I walked to the lockers where I usually saw them, no one was there. I met them there almost everyday, and now they weren't here.

I forced myself to shake off the paranoia that was growing and headed to my first class. I told myself repeatedly that I'd see them in homeroom, like everyday. That managed to calm me down enough to focus on school work.

However, when I walked (ran) into homeroom, none of my friends where there. Joey, nope. Yuugi, gone. Téa, absent. Tristan, nowhere to be seen. My eyes scanned the room repeatedly, but nothing changed. They still weren't there.

My eyes settled on the desk one away from mine. There sat Kaiba, his nose stuck in a book.

I bit my lip and furrowed my eyebrows. Kaiba was here, and my friends weren't. That never happened. Then again, my friends were always here, and Kaiba usually wasn't.

For some reason, I felt a different nervousness. I was nervous about sitting near Kaiba while my friends were M.I.A. Obviously, my priorities were in place.

I shuffled over to my desk and kept my eyes off Kaiba, trying to act as if everything was normal; though, it definitely didn't feel normal sitting in a circle of empty seats that were almost always full.

Trying to distract myself, I started digging through my bag looking for something, anything. I'd left my notebook at home, and I wasn't reading anything at the moment, so there was no book I could take out. I was distractionless. So for the time being, I became extremely interested in the wood pattern on my desk, tracing the patterns with my fingers.

"You're looking uncharacteristically alone." The barely familiar voice came from my right.

Oh God no.

I peeked away from my desk and confirmed that the voice had been Kaiba's. He continued. "Are the dweebs all on holiday?"

I took a deep breath, waiting to be irritated with him for calling my friends "dweebs," but the anger didn't come. "Uh, I don't know where my friends are."

From his expression, he was probably about to make a sarcastic comment, but the teacher began talking, so he shrugged it off and turned back to his book.

I sighed, relieved to be out of his attention again, and turned to look out the window.

Smoke.

My eyes went wide and I looked closer. There was a column of smoke, streaming up from some building not too far away. Something was on fire.

The terror built up inside me before I could control it. There was no way this was a coincidence.

No way.

I stood up from my desk abruptly, the chair sliding out from under me making a huge noise. The teacher raised his eyebrows at me as I ran up the aisle and left the room, my head down the whole time. I heard him calling after me, angrily, but I ignored him and continued down the hall. I left the building altogether.

The only thing that kept me from getting lost was the column of smoke, growing thicker and darker every minute. My fears were starting to seem more and more legitimate as I clicked the pieces together. If the part about the fire in my dream was true, my friends - specifically Yuugi - might be in danger. What about that crash I heard at the end of my dream? Did the roof cave in?

I pushed my legs to run faster, until I found myself in an alleyway, where papers with arrows printed on them pointed in every single direction. I gulped and ignored the signs, focusing instead on the column of smoke. I weaved my way through the maze of arrows until I burst out into a more open area, gasping at the sight in front of me.

There was an old warehouse completely ablaze in front of me, and the structure was surrounded by firetrucks and busy firemen. The building seemed to groan and pop and make weird noises. Then I saw Téa, staring at the building nervously. I ran over to her, ignoring the men who tried to stop me.

"Téa, what's going on?!" I gasped when I reached her.

It seemed I startled her, because she jumped when I said her name. Then she looked at me and she furrowed her eyebrows. "Mara, what are you doing here?"

"It's a long story; just tell me what's going on!"

"Well that's a long story too..." She kept glancing at the warehouse nervously.

"Then give me the short version!" I was starting to get irritated with her.

"Okay, well, I was walking to school with Yuugi and someone took his Millennium Puzzle. We split up to catch the guy, but I lost track of him. I got Tristan and Joey and we ended up finding our way here."

My ears started ringing. "Where are they?"

Téa looked back at the warehouse.

I followed her gaze and slowly sank to my knees, staring at the warehouse hopelessly. "How long have they been in there for?"

"I-I'm not sure." She stuttered out. "A long time."

The sound of breaking wood and a crash met my ears, and I buried my face in my hands, fighting of tears.

Suddenly I heard shouting, somewhat enthusiastic, and Téa said, "Mara look! They're okay!"

My head whipped up, and I saw Tristan and Joey stumbling out of the warehouse, carrying an unconscious Yuugi in their arms.

I almost passed out with relief, but instead got to my feet. Téa and I ran over to help them.

The boys were loaded into an ambulance, and Téa and I rode along with them to the hospital. Joey and Tristan seemed mostly fine, needing just a few bandages to their faces, but Yuugi stayed unconscious until we got to the hospital. We all had to wait in a different room while they fixed him up, and I was happy to find it didn't take long.

When we walked into Yuugi's room, he was all smiles. There were bandages around his hands, and a couple odd ones here and there. Other than that, he looked fine.

I decided not to tell anyone about my dream. They'd probably think it was weird, so I left it out. It wasn't an important detail.

xxx

After my friends almost died, the next day was graciously uneventful. Not to mention it was Friday, almost the weekend.

It went by in a blur, and despite the fact that it was raining when I left, I practically skipped home. I was so ready to start the weekend with a nice, long nap.

Nothing of interest happened until the next day. I didn't want to call any of my friends to hang out, and I spent my day by walking around the city, not doing anything in particular. I hung out in the park for a while and killed some time there, and I shopped around a bit in the cheaper side of town. I felt nice to do something familiar and normal.

Eventually, night fell, and I decided it was probably a good idea to head back home. Because I'd wandered far enough, I was headed toward the direction of the center of the city to get home. Even from where I was, a block down the street, I could see the huge group of people standing around the open square, a bit dispersed with odd groups here and there.

"What the hell...?" I muttered to myself.

Before I had the chance to question it more, all the giant screen TVs in the square changed. I raised my eyebrows when I realized who was on them.

It was Kaiba.

I hurried to make it into the square and listened, a little more interested than I should've been.

"Greetings duelists." He started. "Welcome to the city of Domino. But more importantly, welcome to my tournament."

I raised my eyebrows. So Kaiba was hosting a tournament. That was kind of exciting.

"I see you've all recieved your private invite to KaibaCorp's very exclusive Duel Monsters tournament, and you had enough brains to show up here tonight."

I chuckled quietly to myself as half of the group seemed offened by his remark. Kaiba obviously wasn't looking for anyone to like him much.

"Being that you are all elite duelists," he continued, "I've added special rules to my tournament. For example-," the shot changed to show his arm. On it was what sort of looked like the "duel disk" he'd used in at Duelist Kingdom, but the surface to place the cards on was connected directly to the deck holdler. "-you will all duel using these new, improved Duel Disks."

Sounds of awe rolled through the crowd.

"Another new rule that I've designed for the tournament is that before each duel, both players must ante up their rarest card, and the loser will forfeit their card to the winner."

"Wow..." I muttered. Not many people would be too excited about that. No one wanted to lose their best card because they lost. That would just make it harder for them to win next time.

A few moments passed as the new rule sunk in, then the air around the square was moving, and the trees whipped around as the sound of a helicopter grew deafening. I turned to the sound, and saw the helicopter fly down and hover above the street. Kaiba was standing on the bottom rail of it, like it was no big deal.

He wasn't wearing anything I'd seen him in before. This outfit was much more bold. He was wearing a long white coat that had no sleeves, and black pants and a black long sleeve shirt under it. There were two straps on each of his calves and upper arms, with a silver vambrace on each wrist.

I surprised myself by being occupied with his appearance. He looked really...

Attractive.

I covered my mouth and blushed as if I'd said it aloud, but of course, no one could hear what I was thinking.

Where did that thought come from though? The most I knew about this guy was that he'd been rude and mean to my friends.

And that he'd lost his soul trying to save his brother.

And agreed to give us a ride home from Duelist Kingdom simply because Mokuba had asked.

And he'd talked to me in class the other day, even though it was just to call my friends 'dweebs' and note the fact I was sitting alone. He'd noticed I was alone.

_ Oh fuck this._ I thought to myself. This was a dangerous path I was walking. Might as well turn around now while I still could.

Kaiba ended the announcement quickly and flew off in the helicopter. I just shook my head at myself and started to head back home.

There seemed to be more to this tournament than just being a tournament. I could something big was about to happen, but I didn't know if it was for better or for worse. Either way, change was coming, and I needed to steel myself for it.

* * *

**If you guys haven't read zelos888's story yet, it's getting REALLY close to where you'll meet her character. So go read it! I won't explain her much, because I'll assume you read the other story. (I know I already said that but I'm serious. **

**So yeah. Kaiba. In the Battle City outfit. :3 3 Mara noticed too. *wiggles eyebrows***

**Don't forget that Mara is on Tumblr! No one talks to her, so go find her! Her username is marasasaki. Really hard to remember, right? XD You gotta tell me if you follow her and you're a reader, cuz I want to talk to you guys! This way you can interact with her in time with the story. It's kinda cool. :3**

**zelos888's story: s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Ver2**

**Seriously. Go read that. ^^^**


	14. Chapter 14: A New Adventure Begins

**BWAAAH I've been DYING TO UPLOAD THIS FOR SO LONG but I had to wait for zelos888's chapter. She finished and we both uploaded. Don't forget to read her story too! **

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When I returned to school on Monday, word of the Battle City tournament was getting around. It seemed like everyone in the school was talking about it. My friends were no exception, and it just so happened that Téa and Yuugi had been there for the announcement of the tournament as well. Though Yuugi had actually been invited. This didn't go over so well with Joey, and he basically had a fit when he realized he hadn't been invited. Yuugi told us that he intended to join the competition himself, saying that it was his destiny to join. Joey in turn said that he was destined to help.

After school, my friends all went to pick up Yuugi and Joey's Duel Disk and sign up for the tournament. I didn't go along for that, choosing to go home instead. If I was being completely honest, I was a little jealous. Okay, a lot jealous. But that wasn't my only reason for not going. I'd noticed my parents acting a little clingy within the previous few days, and it was probably due to how often I was out of the house. Even if it was only one afternoon, I felt better spending the time with them.

The next morning, I got a call from Téa saying that Joey never showed up at the hospital for his sister's operation the previous night. The last they'd seen of him was when they were heading home; he ran off to get to the hospital. He hadn't been heard from since.

I left the house shortly after to meet Yuugi, Tea, and Tristan at the Domino Plaza. We came up with a plan and split up to search the city the most effective way we could. Tea, Yuugi, and I searched on foot, while Tristan took his motorcycle on the streets.

After what felt like an eternity of searching, the three of us on foot met on the outskirts of the main city. None of us had seen Joey. Minutes later though, Tristan went speeding by on his motorcycle, surprisingly, with Joey. They drove off to the hospital, and the three of us went back to Yuugi's house for the day. We got a call later that Joey's sister had gone through the operation, and everything was fine.

But then we finally heard the story of what had happened to Joey; that he'd been ambushed in an alleyway and dueled some creeps that stole his Red-Eyes Black Dragon. Apparently they'd had one of Kaiba's new Duel Disks.

As the week went on, there was a lull in activity. Yuugi spent his time after school working on his deck, as did Joey. Tristan spent most of his extra time visiting Joey's sister. There was one day that I hung out with Téa after school, and she explained to me what she'd learned about the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle. Apparently she'd spent a whole day with him and they'd learned about his past; that he was an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. She called him Yami.

Besides that one day, I spent the afternoons moping by myself. I had never entered a Duel Monsters tournament myself, so there was no chance of me entering Battle City. None the less, I felt a little sad that I couldn't enter. I'd been wanting to enter a Duel Monsters tournament anyway, since I'd been playing the game for years, and I'd been more into it lately since I had friends that were interested in it as well. Then Battle City came up, and I couldn't enter because I'd never entered a tournament myself, so I didn't have any duelist data. It was a little disheartening.

Then, Saturday came. Day One of the Battle City Tournament. I finally came out of hiding, got over my moping, and headed out to find Yuugi or Joey. I found both at the Domino Plaza. It seemed that Yuugi had just finished his first duel, and he was talking to Joey. By the time I ran up, Joey was heading off.

"Yuugi!" I hurried to catch up to him, and he stopped when I called his name.

"Oh, hello, Mara."

From the sound of his voice and the way he spoke told me that it was the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, not Yuugi.

I grimaced. "Sorry, it's probably weird that I just called you Yuugi…"

"That's quite alright. That's how the world knows me." He responded easily.

I felt a little weird; this was the first time I'd talked to the spirit of the Millennium Puzzle, or Yami, I guess, knowingly.

"So," I scratched the back of my neck, "mind if I tag along with you?"

"Not at all." He grinned, and I felt a little less awkward. If he didn't mind me being around, I felt more comfortable following him.

We started walking, and I looked him. "So I'm curious… I feel like I don't know as much about you as our friends. Can you fill me in a bit?" I didn't want to offend him, but even though I know some information from Téa, I wanted to hear it from Yami too.

"Well, I don't know much about my past, or myself. All I know is that I was an Egyptian pharaoh five-thousand years ago, and I saved the world."

"Wow…" I murmured.

"I also know that I am here for a reason, to do the same thing."

I nodded, trying to let that sink in. I was talking to an ancient Egyptian pharaoh. Who saved the world. And was here to do it again.

I paused before continuing. "What about a name?"

He shook his head. "I don't know what it is. Now I go by Yami, I suppose."

"Well Yami, it's nice to officially meet you!" I smiled. "One more question. Where are we going?"

Yami looked ahead. "I don't have a destination in mind."

I nodded, then bit my lip, remembering something I'd been considering the previous night. I wanted to give Yuugi a card for good luck in the tournament, but now I didn't know if it would be weird to give it to him since he already had a duel. I decided to go for it.

"Um, Yami?"

He looked at me. "Yes?"

"I, uh… I wanted to give you something for good luck in Battle City." I pulled my mini backpack off my shoulders and dug through it until I found my deck box, and pulled it out. The card I wanted to give him was right in front of the stack, so I slipped it out and handed it to Yami. "I hope it's helpful."

He looked a little surprised when he took the card. "The Dark Magician Girl?" He looked at me. "You're giving me this?"

I smiled and nodded. "Yeah! I want you to have it. And since you already have the Dark Magician, it'd be cool if you had this in your deck too."

He blinked, surprised, and nodded, grinning. ""Well then, thank you." He took out his deck and started working his new card in.

We continued to walk around aimlessly through the city. I wasn't sure what his plan was, but I had nowhere to be. So I just followed.

Eventually we came up on a duel in progress, but we couldn't see anything; the street was packed. But we wanted to take a break from walking, and from the sound of the crowd, the duel was really good.

"How about we try the roof? I suggested, motioning to the buildings around us.

He nodded. "Alright.

We entered one of the buildings and climbed the stairs to the roof. Looking over the edge of the railing gave us a perfect view of the duel from over everyone's heads. Upon closer inspection, I realized I recognized one of the duelists.

"Hey, it's Joey!" I exclaimed.

Yami nodded. "And his opponent is Espa Roba."

I looked at him. "Who's that?"

"Espa Roba is known for dueling using ESP."

"…So he's cheating."

Yami chuckled. "Maybe."

We focused back on the duel, but I saw Yami look past me to our left, and I followed his gaze. On the next building over, there were four boys on the roof, all different ages, and they all looked exactly like Espa Roba. A younger looking boy was standing there with a lollipop in his mouth, one of the older boys had a baby strapped to his back, and he was looking through binoculars. The last boy had a headset on, and was speaking into it. From the sounds of it, they were relaying information about Joey's cards to Espa Roba.

"Hm, so he is a fake." Yami said.

Down below, Espa Roba started "tapping in" to his "ESP." His brothers had just told him via headset what card Joey had drawn.

I was about to say something angry, when I heard three short whistle blasts to our left. I turned and saw Mokuba running towards the Espa Roba clones, whistle in hand. He shouted, "Violation!"

The boys tried to disperse, but Mokuba snatched the binoculars out of the one boy's hands and chased another down, sliding on the ground and grabbing him by his ankle as he tried to duck under a billboard. The boy fell to the ground, and Mokuba sat up. "Your brother will never duel in this town again!"

I raised my eyebrows, surprised. Apparently his job for the tournament was enforcing the rules, and he seemed pretty damn into it.

"We learned our lesson!" The oldest looking boy said. "Please, you gotta give him another chance!"

"As the Battle City Tournament Commissioner, it's my sworn duty to bust cheaters!" Mokuba crossed his arms. "Give me one good reason why I shouldn't cancel this duel."

"You just can't!"

The next oldest boy, the one Mokuba had grabbed by the ankle, leaned forward. "Have some mercy! Our brother isn't doing this for the dueling glory, he's doing it for us!"

The oldest spoke again. "We're carnival folk; or... we used to be. Since we left the show, Espa's kept the bullies off our backs!"

Mokuba relaxed a little. "Your big brother protected you from bullies?"

"Everyday after school the big kids would gang up on us. But even bullies respect a great duelist like our brother." The second oldest said. "As long as he wins, they leave us alone! We're just trying to make sure he does."

Mokuba's eyebrows pulled together, and then he caught sight of me and Yami. Yami looked away, but I kept watching. I wanted to see what he'd do.

Mokuba turned back to the Roba brothers and shook his head. "It's still cheating! If I let you guys off the hook, what's to stop you from pulling this stunt again?"

"I'm begging! The second oldest said. "Please let my brother duel! Otherwise we'll get picked on!"

The third brother took the lollipop out of his mouth. "Just give him a chance to duel legit. Espa may be a bogus psychic, but he's a great duelist!"

Mokuba, glanced back up at us quickly, then looked back at the brothers when they started speaking.

The oldest spoke first. "What do you say?"

"C'mon, have a heart!" The second added.

Mokuba sighed. "This is your last chance." Then he grinned. "If he cheats again, then it's no more Mr. Nice Guy!"

The brothers thanked him and cheered, and I smiled. He did the right thing by giving the Roba brothers a second chance. The kid had good judgement.

The boys went back to the railing and Mokuba gave them their binoculars back, but they stopped using their headset. Now they were just watching the duel. Mokuba looked back over at me and Yami, and I flashed him a grin and waved. He returned the gesture before we all turned back to the duel down below.

The duel didn't go too well for Joey during most of it, but somehow, he pulled himself up at the end and won, keeping himself in the tournament. Yami and I didn't have a reason to hang around, so we left the roof and continued our wanderings. The two had walked out of the area anyway.

We didn't make it too far before my phone buzzed in my pocket. I took the Nokia out from my pocket, and saw it was a text from Téa, wanting to meet me at the Domino Plaza.

I looked at Yami. "Hey, Téa wants me to meet her at the Domino Plaza. You want to head there?"

He thought a moment, then shook his head. "No, I'm going to keep on this path for now."

I nodded. "Okay, I guess I'll see you around then!" I headed off in the opposite direction.

When I met Téa at the Plaza, I was surprised to see that she had Yuugi's grandpa with her.

"Hey Téa, hello Mr. Muto!" I greeted them.

"Hello Mara!" Yuugi's grandpa greeted back. "How have you been?"

I smiled. "I've been good, thanks. So, what are you guys up to?"

Téa said, "Well I forgot to mention it in the text, but we've been searching for Yuugi all day."

I blinked, then hit my forehead with the palm of my hand. "Oh, Téa, you should have said something! I was with Yuugi when you texted me! I've been with him all day!"

Téa frowned. "Well, where was he headed?"

"We were going that way-" I pointed in the direction I'd come from, "-and when I left him we were close to the shopping district's park."

"Well let's go." Gramps urged.

I stuck around with Téa and Gramps to find Yuugi, and I felt like I was going in circles. It was awfully tedious. When we got back to where I'd gotten the text from Téa, I informed them which direction we'd been heading in, and we continued that way. A few minutes later, we spotted Yuugi entering some circus tent.

"Hey, Yuugi!" Téa called out, but he didn't turn and disappeared inside the tent.

We followed him in. The tent was darker on the inside than I'd expected. I could see a stage with a sign that said "Magic Show" above it. There was what looked like a "Magical Box" on the stage, and Yuugi was walking right into it.

We all tried calling out, but the box closed on him. When we ran to the stage, the walls of the box fell away, and Yuugi was nowhere to be seen.

I gasped, and Téa looked around frantically, asking, "Where'd he go?"

"This is freaky..." I glanced around as well.

"We need to find him!" Gramps said.

The three of us left the tent and decided to search the city. There wasn't much else we could do at that point. We ran through the streets, going up and down every path in a desperate search. The whole ordeal wore out Gramps, and we had to stop so he could catch his breath.

Just as Mokuba came running up.

"Hey, Mokuba!" I called. "Can you help us?"

He stopped by us, a little surprised to see us, and Téa filled him in. "Well, we've been looking for Yuugi, but we can't find him anywhere! He walked into a tent and disappeared!"

"Yeah, I've been looking for him too." Mokuba told us. "Seto just figured out where he is, and I'm headed there now."

"Good timing." Téa raised her eyebrows.

"We'll follow you." I said, and Mokuba nodded, starting off again in the direction he'd been going.

He led us to an unmarked building, nowhere near where the tent had been. When we were about to go in, Tristan showed up on his motorcycle. We explained the situation, and he joined us.

We worked our way to the basement of the building only to find a steel door, bolted shut. Tristan started banging on the door, and Gramps called out to get a response from Yuugi inside. But he didn't respond.

Tristan got impatient and rammed the door in with his shoulder. When we ran inside, Yuugi was holding up some guy in a full red suit and a blue striped mask.

Yuugi told us what was going on, and the suit guy, apparently named Arcana, was shipped off to the hospital.

I decided to call that the end of Battle City Day One for me. I wasn't the only one. Yuugi and Gramps went home, and Tea decided to as well. By the end of tomorrow, the easy part of Battle City would be over, and those who got their six locator cards would go on to the Semi-Finals.

All we could do was hope Yuugi was one of them.

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**zelos888's story (companion story of this, if you didn't know): s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Version-2**


	15. Chapter 15: Duels Duels Duels

**YES FINALLY a new chapter! Now to reply to dem reviews:**

**Aqua girl 007: Thanks! I don't remember my exact thought process and how I thought of it, but I thought it'd be fun to put in ^u^**

**Lone Panda: Oh wow, thank you so so much! You're mentioning some of the things I strive to do to keep my story original, and I'm glad that you notice! And also THANK YOU for actually reading both mine and my friend's story. It means a lot that you've taken an interest enough to read both! :D**

**Okay, on to the chapter!**

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I had planned to meet up with my friends on the second morning of the tournament, but according to my alarm clock, that wasn't going to be happening. I woke up an hour after I'd wanted to. Even though I was running late, it was still morning when I got to the tournament area limits, but I'd missed a lot. I took to the streets, hoping to find someone I knew.

Wandering around aimlessly quickly became tedious, and I was walking along the raised walkway by the aqueduct, about to give up on searching and text Tea to see where she was, when I saw a duel up ahead. I looked closer to see who the duelists were, and I realized Yuugi was on the side closest to me. My steps quickened. He was trapped by the Nightmare Steel Cage magic card, not in too good a position. All I could see of his opponent's field was a Breeding Machine card and two Slime Tokens.

I caught the last part of whatever his opponent was saying, and his voice sounded off. Like there were two separate people speaking. It wasn't normal. But I shook off the strange feeling I got and continued forward.

"Yuugi!" I called when I reached the duel. He looked over, surprised to see me. His expression was distressed. Maybe the duel wasn't going so well after all.

I frowned. "What's going on?"

"It's hard to explain, but this man's mind is being controlled by another. He's trying to take my Puzzle."

Wow, I missed a lot.

I recognized now that I was talking to Yami. That was really going to take some getting used to. I opened my mouth to respond, but his opponent beat me to it.

"Make your move." He called. "You can't attack anyway."

Yami turned back to the duel and drew his next card. "I'll end my turn."

His opponent chuckled. "That's good, because your time has run out." He drew his card and said, "Breeding Machine, create the third and final Slime Token!" Then he snickered. "Now I have enough to sacrifice for my ultimate monster!"

_A monster that takes three sacrifices?_ I thought. _That's insane..._

Out of nowhere, a cover of black clouds darkened the sky, and Yami's opponent shouted, "Prepare to meet an ancient force like no other!"

Several bolts of lightning shot down from the sky, and I tensed up, even though I knew they were holograms.

Yami's opponent continued. "I sacrifice my Jam Breeder and three Slime Tokens in order to summon the beast of your destruction!" The pieces of the sacrificed monsters flew up into the sky, and a huge beam of light shot down in their place, then spread to cover the field. I shielded my eyes and heard Yami's opponent shout, "The last creature you'll ever see: the Egyptian God Monster, Slifer the Sky Dragon!"

The light began to fade and I looked up to see the biggest Duel Monster I'd ever seen, if it could even be called that. I almost fell backward at the immensity of the red serpent, wings spread wide with two mouths on its head.

"Damn..." I whispered.

The dragon roared, and I covered my ears, making me miss the next part of the conversation. When I uncovered my ears, Yami was saying, "Every monster has it's weakness, Marik, and I'll find yours."

His opponent, apparently named Marik, scoffed. "You're in no position to be making threats, Yuugi. You can't attack, and you're staring face to face with a monster who's power is limitless."

"Limitless?"

"Allow me to explain how Slifer works. The number of cards I hold in my hand determine how much attack power Slifer has. I have two cards in my hand, therefore Slifer has 2,000 attack points."

"That's not too bad..." I murmured. There were several cards in Yuugi's deck that could over power that. The problem was that Slifer's attack could easily get higher. I started chewing on my nails nervously.

As if to prove that point, Marik played Pot of Greed, allowing him to draw two cards so Slifer's power would raise to 3,000, since he played the card from his hand.

Yami took his turn, but all he could do was draw, place two cards face down, and play a Kuriboh in defense mode. The Nightmare Steel Cage around Yami vanished, leaving him wide open for an attack from Slifer.

When Marik drew, Slifer's attack rose to 4,000, and he decided to use it. But Yami activated a trap: Lightforce Sword. By removing a card from Marik's hand for three turns, Slifer's attack power fell back to 3,000. Yami went to attack it with his Buster Blader card on the field, but Marik had a Revival Jam monster of the field, and it took the blow instead. Then Marik played a Card of Safe Return, which meant whenever Revival Jam reformed itself, he could draw three cards from his deck. Slifer's attack rose to 5000. He attacked Yami's Buster Blader card, and Yami's Life Points fell. I wasn't sure the exact number, since I didn't know what it had been at when I arrived. Then Yami drew his next card, and sacrificed Kuriboh to play the Dark Magician Girl.

I couldn't help but smile, knowing that the card I'd given him was being played. Like I was helping him during his duel. I was pretty useless from the sidelines, but now it felt like I was going to help him win this.

But apparently, Slifer had a special ability, making it attack whenever a new monster was played on the opponent's side of the field to reduce their points by 2,000. In this case, Yami's Dark Magician Girl. Before the dragon's blast could hit the Magician, Yami activated his Magical Hats card. Then he placed two cards face down under the remaining two hats.

Marik drew, then played Infinite Cards, meaning he could exceed the card in hand limit. Then he attacked one of the Magical Hats. The blast hit the Dark Magician Girl, but she used Yami's Magic Cylinder and Spellbinding Circle. The Revival Jam took the hit, and allowed Marik to draw three more cards, bringing Slifer to 8,300. Spellbinding Circle expired, and Slifer's attack became 9,000. He then destroyed the Dark Magician Girl for good.

Yami's arms dropped to his sides, as he came to grips with how powerful Slifer really was, and he fell to his knees, staring up at the Egyptian God Monster.

Had he given up? He couldn't have given up. He never gave up!

I gritted my teeth. "Get back up! You can still win this! C'mon the duel's not over yet!" I yelled. He didn't take notice of me.

"Get on your feet, Yuugi." A voice spoke from my right. I jumped a little and looked over.

Standing not ten feet from me was Kaiba, and next to him was Mokuba, carrying his briefcase.

My face grew warm without my permission as I noticed he was wearing the same outfit he had been when announcing the tournament. What were the odds that Kaiba would show up here? While I was here, especially. I hadn't seen him in person since he talked to me in class that one day. And now...

"Since when do you bow to your rivals?" He continued.

"...Never." Yami replied.

"Then get up and stop embarrassing yourself so you can relieve this nobody of his Egyptian God Card."

So Kaiba knew about the Egyptian God Monsters, it seemed. I guess I was just out of the loop.

"Don't let this punk win. You can take down Slifer. Just find it's weakness; unless of course, you've lost your touch." Kaiba taunted. "If you still have what it takes, then get up and prove it to me now."

I looked back at Yami, locking my fingers together behind my back as I tried to be invisible. Yami stood back up, seeming to have found new determination. Then he glared at his opponent.

"Marik, it's over."

Marik scoffed. "My Egyptian God Card is unstoppable." Then, he looked up at Kaiba. "And you're my next victim Kaiba. Once I annihilate Yuugi, I'm coming after _your_ Egyptian God Monster."

I raised my eyebrows and glanced at Kaiba. He had one of these cards too? It shouldn't have been surprising.

Kaiba rolled his eyes. "Save your breath. Your empty threats don't scare me."

"They will in time, fool."

"This duel isn't over yet, Marik." Yami piped up. He drew his card, and placed one face down. He also added Big Shield Gardna in defense mode. Slifer's special ability activated, but Big Shield Gardna survived, though it's defense points fell from 2,600 to 600.

Marik drew, and Slifer's attack rose again, now to 11,000. He attacked Big Shield Gardna, wiping it off the field.

Then, it seemed like Yami had a revelation, and figured out how to destroy Slifer. He drew his card, and played Monster Reborn. With it, he brought back his Buster Blader, thus activating Card of Safe Return's effect. Marik drew three cards, raising Slifer's attack to 14,000. It also activated Slifer's special ability, bringing Buster Blader's attack to 1,100.

Surprisingly, Yami attempted an attack on Slifer with Buster Blader. Revival Jam again intercepted the attack, just like it had before. Unfazed, Yami played Brain Control, and he chose to take the Revival Jam. When the creature reformed itself on Yami's field, Marik drew three cards. It also activated Slifer's special ability, making it attack the Revival Jam. The Jam regenerated. Marik drew his three cards. Slifer attacked. Revival Jam reformed.

"Oh, wow..." I whispered, understanding what he was doing now. Yami was going to make Marik run out of cards.

The cycle continued until Marik had no more cards to draw. The duel was over, and Yami was the victor.

I grinned and hurried down the steps to Yami.

"That was fantastic!" I said. "I would've never thought of that."

Yami grinned at me, but before he could respond, Mokuba walked over with Marik's Locator Card and Slifer.

Then Kaiba walked over.

I locked my hands behind my back again and looked at the ground.

"So, you figured out how to defeat Slifer." I heard him say. "It's too bad you won't have it for very long."

"Why is that?" Yami asked in a way that told me he already knew what Kaiba was going to say.

"Because I'm going to duel you for it right now."

I was expecting more to be said, but suddenly Marik, who was still kneeling on the floor, started snickering.

We all looked over and the snickers turned into dark laughter. "Stupid fools."

Mokuba jumped away from the guy, surprised.

"I've had enough of your mind tricks, Marik!" Yami growled. "It's time for you to show yourself."

"Not to worry, Pharaoh. You'll meet me sooner than you think."

The word "Pharaoh" fell off his tongue so easily, but it sounded strange to me. It probably sounded even stranger to Kaiba and Mokuba.

"I'm on my way to Battle City as we speak." He continued. "And I'm always looking for new people to become my servants. Now tell me, which of your friends would make the best mind slave, hm? Tea? Joey, perhaps."

My eyebrows furrowed. What was this guy talking about? I was confused, and he was threatening our friends. That worried me.

"You leave them alone." Yami snapped.

"Well, it appears I've touched a nerve, haven't I? Perhaps I can use your friends to get what I want from you. Just as the weakness of my dragon destroyed it, your loyalty to your friends will soon destroy you." Then the man fell forward, landing on the ground with a heavy thud.

I raised an eyebrow and looked at Yami, confused. His hands balled into fists, and he muttered, "I have to help them." Suddenly he spun around and started running.

"Hey, wait!" I started to follow him, but turned to look at Kaiba when he yelled at Yami to stay.

Yami turned on him and said, "Our duel will have to wait, Kaiba. My friends are in danger." He turned to run again, and I huffed.

"Dang it, hold on!" I chased after him. He could run fast, and I had some trouble keeping up with him. I managed though.

He led us back to the city, and we were running down a side street when we saw two cloaked guys standing in our way.

"Going somewhere?" The short, chubby one said when we stopped in front of him. "If you want to save your friends, you'll have to make it past us first."

The tall one smirked. "And that's no easy task."

Yami gritted his teeth. "I will get past!"

The short one snickered. "Well the only way to do that is to defeat us in a duel."

"And that means you have to defeat both of us!" The tall one added.

Then two of them started arguing over who could duel Yami first.

"How do they know about our friends?" I asked him.

"They must be more of Marik's minions." He growled.

"...You're going to need to fill me in later..." I murmured, truly confused.

The two were in the middle of a rock paper scissors match when Yami yelled, "That's enough!"

They glared back at him. The tall one spoke. "Not to worry, we will defeat you soon. But as you know, only one of us may duel you at a time.

"Not if both of us duel against you." A new voice joined.

I turned around and saw Kaiba walking our way. My eyebrows rose as Mokuba ran up behind him. What made them follow us?

"Now it's two on two." Kaiba declared.

The tall one snickered. "We accept your challenge."

"We'll win both your God Cards at once." The short one added.

"You won't win." Kaiba said simply. He smirked. "If you honestly think you'll take our Egyptian God cards, you don't know who you're dealing with."

Um. Wow.

I backed out of the dueling area and walked over to Mokuba, giving him a friendly pat on the head before settling in to watch.

Kaiba got the first turn of the duel and played a Pot of Greed, drawing an additional two cards. Then he summoned Lord of D., adding two Flutes of Summoning Dragon. This allowed him to immediately summon all three of his Blue-Eyes White Dragons, plus a Hyozanru to the field. With that, he ended his turn, all of his Monster Card Zones filled.

"Was that for real...?" I murmured. I'd never seen anyone get that many monsters on the field in one turn before.

Mokuba grinned up at me. "Well yeah. My brother's the best, after all!"

I smiled and ruffled his hair, then turned back to the duel.

The shorter one of their opponents went first, playing one card in defense mode. Then Yami took his turn, simply placing two cards face down, and Kuriboh in defense mode. The tall guy went next, placing one card face card and a monster in defense mode.

Then it was back to Kaiba. He jumped right in, sacrificing his three Blue-Eyes White Dragons. The move seemed shocking to me, but when he played his next card, the effect was almost the same as what had happened when Slifer was summoned. He was playing his Egyptian God Card.

The beast appeared on the field, somewhat humanoid in shape, but _huge_. It towered over every surrounding building and glowered down at their opponents. Kaiba declared it's name as Obelisk the Tormentor.

Before we could react much, he sacrificed his other two monsters to bring its attack to 5,000. Then, in one attack, the other two's Life Points fell to zero in a blast that I didn't even see, because I had to cover my eyes.

The field was cleared and the "Rare Hunters," as Yami had called them, were on the floor unconscious.

"Wow." I squeaked.

Yami rushed forward to the short one and demanded he tell him where our friends were, but he was too out of it to respond.

"Yuugi, don't walk away without your prize." Kaiba tossed him one of the Locator Cards he'd just taken from the other Rare Hunter.

Yami caught it, then said, "I must make sure my friends are all right." He started running off again.

"Hold on." Kaiba stopped him.

Yami whipped around and glared at him. "I won't duel you now, Kaiba!"

Taking both me and Yami by surprise, Kaiba turned to Mokuba and said, "Mokuba, contact headquarters and tell them to track down Wheeler's Duel Disk. I'm sure the others will be there as well."

I bit my lip and looked away. Well, that was nice of him.

Yami raised his eyebrows. "Thank you."

"I'll help you find your friends, but afterwards, be prepared for our duel."

Yami nodded, and Mokuba started tapping away at some kind of handheld device. When he finished with that, we headed off.

Most of the walk was silent, and awkward, to say the least. Mokuba left us half way through the journey to work with the satellites to find Joey. It was about a half an hour before we were updated on Joey's location, which ended up being the Domino Aquarium.

When we got there, however, Joey - or any of our friends for that matter - were no where to be seen. Yami went to a pay phone to try and call Tea, but when she picked up, she only asked for help before the call cut off. Apparently the Rare Hunters had already found them.

Now it was time to really worry as we continued walking around, waiting for an update from Mokuba. That's really all we could do. No one spoke, and I could feel nausea settle in my stomach. Were the Rare Hunters going to hurt our friends? What did they even want? I had no idea, but it didn't seem like something Yami could explain to me easily.

I was walking next to Yami, hands clasped behind my back, watching the floor as we walked when we encountered another Rare Hunter. He leapt down from a building on the street and landed in front of us, his hood covering his face.

We stopped in our tracks, and the Rare Hunter chuckled at us.

Yami yelled, "What have you done with my friends?"

The Rare Hunter snickered. "That's for us to know." Then he pointed behind us. "And Seto Kaiba, look who else is coming with us!"

We turned around just as a helicopter rounded a courner. Hanging from the bottom rail was Mokuba, tied up in a rope.

I gasped, my hand covering my mouth, and Kaiba yelled, "Mokuba!" He turned to glared at the Rare Hunter. "Let him go!"

He snickered. "He's fine, for now. There is one way to save your brother." His arm raised and he pointed at a building behind him. "Meet us at the top of that building, if you ever expect to see your brother again. The choice is yours."

The helicopter behind us grew louder, and I turned to see it flying straight up, carrying Mokuba away with it. I stared at its shrinking form as the Rare Hunter spoke again.

"And Kaiba's not the only one whose presence is required." He spoke to Yami. "If you want to see your friends, you'll show up as well." Then he snickered. "I'll see you both shortly." The Rare Hunter ran off towards the building he'd pointed us to.

I looked back between Yami and Kaiba, waiting to see what they'd say.

Kaiba gritted his teeth. "Looks like we have no choice."

Our only option was to do as the Rare Hunter said, and head over to the building.

We got to the building and took the elevator to the top floor, then the stairs to the roof. On top, there was a glass skylight, shining down into the rooms below. The window was cut into four sections. On the side farthest from us, two Rare Hunters, one taller and one shorter, both covered in cloaks with hoods pulled up, stood on two different sections on the skylight. Yami and Kaiba stepped forward onto the skylight as well. I hung away from the glass. I wasn't too comfortable about standing on such a fragile surface.

"I see you decided to show up." The shorter one, the one we'd spoken to on the street, taunted. "A wise choice."

"Yes, now tell us; what is the meaning of all this?" Yami shouted at them.

"We kept up our end of the deal. Now why don't you honor yours." Kaiba demanded.

"I'm afraid it isn't that simple." The shorter one said. "You two will have to duel us first. If you win, you'll see your loved ones again." He snickered. "Before the fun begins, allow up to introduce ourselves." He tilted his head up to we could see his face. On just the right half of his face, he had a white mask with two red markings, twisted up into a sick smile. "I am Lumis."

The taller Rare Hunter finally spoke, looking up enough so we could see his face. "And I am Umbra." He had a black and red mask that only covered the left half of his face.

Lumis spoke again. "You defeated us once before, but I assure you, you won't be so lucky in this duel."

"And if we do win," Yami started, "you'll release our friends and family?"

"Perhaps, but there's no way you'll win. Now let me explain the rules of this match. It will be a double duel: Us against you two. Each duelist will receive 4,000 Life Points. You must beat both of the other teams duelists in order to win. And as for the losers," Lumis snickered, "They'll pay a very hefty price. Their lives."

My eyes widened, and I saw Kaiba and Yami both stiffen. That was a hefty price for a duel, whether we were trying to get back our friends or not.

"Notice where you're standing." Umbra began explaining. "On a thin surface above a fifty-story light shaft that runs all the way to the ground floor. Now, each duelists Life Points will be displayed on those rigged boxes on each corner of the glass. When your Life Points reach zero, the surface below you will be shattered, dropping you both to the ground floor."

"And according to Battle City rules," Lumis took over, "when we win, we'll get your Egyptian God Cards. Ready?" He snickered.

Both Yami and Kaiba stayed silent. I couldn't blame them. I was speechless as well. The duel went from just a way to get Mokuba, Joey, and Tea back, to a situation where if they succeed, they would die. It worried - or rather, terrified - me.

"Looks like I've left you speechless!" Lumis taunted.

Kaiba snickered. "I was just making sure you were finished with your ridiculous monologue." You know. Demeaning. "It looks as if you've just made your second mistake today. The first was taking my brother. The second was challenging me." He activated his Duel Disk.

"We'll see about that, Kaiba."

Yami activated his Disk as well. "And I _will_ save my friends."

"Very touching." Umbra sneered. "But we duel for our master, Marik, and losing is not an option. Our decks are specially assembled to take down your Egyptian God Cards and that's just what we'll do."

"And once we deliver them to Master Marik," Lumis added, "He'll possess all three Egyptian God Cards. And as a side bonus, the two of you will be dead! So if you're ready, let's duel!"

The four all drew their first hand, and Lumis took the first turn. In the first round, the Rare Hunters immediately assumed the upper-hand, getting out a monster with 2,600 attack. It was easy to guess their strategy though. Their decks were built to compliment each other: Lumis' deck holding only magic cards while Umbra's deck was mostly monsters. A majority of their cards were mask-themed, and made many of Yuugi and Kaiba's cards useless, or prevented them from making certain moves. Yuugi and Kaiba struggled to work together. Or rather, Kaiba refused for most of the duel, and denied the times that he _did _help Yuugi.

Towards the end of the duel, Kaiba finally summoned Obelisk and took out Umbra. The glass below the Rare Hunter fell out, but instead of plummeting all the way to the floor, he activated a parachute he'd apparently been wearing. Of course. They weren't going to play by their own rules.

The conversation that followed was nothing short of strange. Marik, the man who's name I recognized from the first duel I'd seen that day, made another appearance, though not in person. He was speaking through the Rare Hunter somehow, not only telling us that he had our friends, but also that Joey and Tea weren't "on our side" anymore. But before we could learn anything else, Marik was gone, and we were left with no other information.

Now we not only needed to find our friends, but figure out what had happened to them. If what Marik said was true, did that mean he'd taken over their minds like he had the Rare Hunters'? All we could do now was continue our search, and hope to find everyone soon.

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**OKAY So the next chapter is mostly written. It just needs to be reviewed and what not, so hopefully it won't take a MONTH this time. With summer break coming up, I'm sure it'll be soon!**

**Thanks for reading, and reviews are appreciated! 3**

**Version 2: s/8518215/1/A-Missing-Link-Version-2**


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